Tigers eye to avoid humiliating whitewash

Bangladesh is eying to restore some pride by avoiding a humiliating whitewash as they take on Pakistan in the third and final T20 Internationals today (Monday) at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

The Tigers had already lost the three-match series following their five-wicket and nine-wicket defeat in the first and second match respectively.

In both matches, Bangladesh however got a wicket in which they are used to play back in the country. But they again proved their shortcomings to use the first and last power-play well in batting-in which the success of T20 cricket generally lies.

In the first match, they made just 35 runs in six overs without losing any wicket while in the second match, which was a fine track for batting, they could make just 33-2.

Tamim Iqbal and his fellow opener Naim Sheikh’s failure to give a proper start in the first power-play basically routed.

Bangladesh’s way to make a healthy total at the end. In the first match, they were restricted to 141-5 while in the second match they put up just 136-6.
Tamim Iqbal though scored 39 and 65 in those two matches, his runs came at slower pace that sparked huge criticism.

The seasoned campaigner’s tendency of not taking risk despite being set in the crease was a reason that the cricket fraternity found a way to criticize him more.

Tamim failed to make up his slower start at the end as he was trapped run-out in both matches by running between the wickets casually.

Bangladesh and Pakistan so far played 12 games in this format, of which Pakistan won 10. The Tigers won just two and the final T20 gives them an opportunity to increase the number.

Dhaka/Mukul