Can Bangladesh Win the ODI Series against England?

Winning ODI series against test playing countries is a rare case for Bangladesh cricket team. They have the experience of defeating Zimbabwe and West Indies in ODI series in the past, but on both occasions their opponents featured second-string squads.

After the impressive 5-run victory over England in Bristol, Bangladesh is now eyeing on a rare series win against England by winning the third and the final match of the series on 12 July at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Bangladesh occasionally picks up victories against test playing nations, but can not show the much-needed consistency. They have some quality young players in Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique and talented Ashraful.

With captain Mashrafe Mortaza coming back in action after his injury lay-off, Bangladesh pace attack has got back some rhythm. Moreover, the young pacers like Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain possess sheer amount of talent and they just need to flourish their potential.

There are, in fact, two major reasons behind Bangladesh’s below-par performances most of the time. First, they have lack of consistency and Mohammad Ashraful is perhaps the best example of this fact.

Some people may disagree by showing the performances of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan over the last one year. However, Tamim has an ODI batting average of less than 30 and Shakib’s batting average in ODI is around 33. Compared to other Bangladeshi batsmen, it seems to be pretty good, but they are yet to reach international standard.

Secondly, Bangladeshi players can not perform together. Most of the time, their individual performances come in different matches. When Tamim scores a well-played fifty, Ashraful, Shakib and others fail, while Ashraful scores a big score, other fails to contribute.

Now, they must get over these two problems, if Bangladesh wants to clinch a historic series win over England on Monday.