West Indies will square up against Bangladesh in the second ODI of the three-match series on Wednesday, 13th of July in Guyana. The hosts completed a clean sweep in the T20Is and Test series and will be eyeing a similar run in the ODIs. However, being already down 0-1 after losing the first game of the series by a margin of six wickets, the hosts would have to come back hard to win the next two and make a clean sweep of the three series in their favour.
Nicholas Pooran’s side dominated the visitors in the two T20Is after the first one was washed out due to rain. He would rally his troops to maintain the same level of intensity and not take the opponents lightly after their recent showings. Prior to the first ODI, West Indies’ last encounter against the visitors came in 2021 when they were humiliated with a 0-3 defeat.
Meanwhile, things seem to be getting from bad to worse for Bangladesh as they failed to lay a glove on the hosts in the recently concluded T20I series. However, the visitors came strongly in the rain-marred first ODI in which the Men in Green first restricted West Indies to a paltry total of 149/9 and then chased down the set target of 142 inside 32 overs. However, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who recently became the only player in T20I history to amass 2000 runs and scalp 100 wickets, won’t be available for the entire ODI series, a critical absence for the visitors.
What have they done so far?
The Windies have been the dominant side on this tour, winning both the Test and T20I series. The likes of Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein have been impressive over the last week or so and will look to sustain the same form in the upcoming fifty-over game as well.
Nicholas Pooran will look to inspire West Indies to come hard on Bangladesh
But the visitors came strongly in the rain-marred first ODI in which the Men in Green first restricted West Indies to a paltry total of 149/9 and then chased down the set target of 142 inside 32 overs. The same performance would be expected from the Bangla tigers in these games as well.
Head to Head record
The head-to-head record between these two nations is very close as the Windies lead the count with 21 victories from 42 encounters while the counterparts have won 19 fixtures. It could have been heavily dominated by the Caribbeans, had Bangladesh barged into International cricket and when they did, West Indies’ supremacy was already on the decline.
The last One-day series between them was played in Bangladesh where the home team lifted the trophy with a 3-0 outcome. In their most recent face-off prior to the first one-dayer of this series, Bangladesh registered a convincing victory over its counterparts by 120 runs at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium of Chattogram.
It was a considerably weak touring squad of West Indies led by the captain Jason Mohammed as they underperformed under the Bangladeshi conditions. The series was marked as a big failure for the Windies batting unit which just couldn’t stand up in front of the wrath of Bangla bowling and surrendered in each game. However, tables have turned this time around when the hosts have dominated both Tests and T20Is in this tour. Meanwhile, this marks the first time since their debuts in 2006 that Bangladesh will be without both Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim in the 50 overs format.
Key Players
Akeal Hosein is a player to watch out for in the 2nd ODI
Akeal Hosein (West Indies): Akeal Hosein has transformed into one of the leading spinners in white-ball cricket and for good reason. He has 35 wickets to his name in just 20 ODIs with an economy rate of just 4.46. In addition to his bowling exploits, Akeal can hold his own with the bat with a fifty to his name in ODIs. Given his all-round ability, Hosein is certainly the key player for the hosts in this series.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Bangladesh): Mehidy Hasan Miraz is likely to play a bigger role with both the bat and ball in the absence of Shakib Al Hasan. On a general note, Mehidy has been in decent form across all formats, coming up with handy contributions on all fronts. With the conditions playing into his hands, he is certainly a player to watch out for in the Bangladesh camp.
Predicted Playing XI
West Indies: Shai Hope (WK), Kyle Mayers, Shamarh Brooks, Nicholas Pooran (C), Brandon King, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Anderson Phillip, Hayden Walsh
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (C), Anamul Haque (WK), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto,Mahmudullah, Yasir Ali, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
Prediction
Momentum can prove an extremely powerful tool in cricket and following their dominant performances over the course of the T20I series, it’s hard not to see West Indies carrying that through into this first ODI.
So far, conditions have served to benefit them and their superior batting depth has comfortably outperformed their opponents and whilst the 50-over format should see an improvement from Bangladesh, West Indies should still wind up too strong for them here. Hence, we back the hosts to take victory in the second ODI.