Series decider today
Sports Reporter
Shakib Al Hasan has been named the top player of ICC All-rounder’s ODI Championship Rankings this week following his sparkling performance with both bat and ball.
The 21-year old from Magura, who now heads the rankings with 380 points, was number three last week but ran ahead of New Zealand’s Jacob Oram (368 points) and England’s Andrew Flintoff (366 points).
Shakib’s recent exploits in the longer version game has also taken him into the top 10 Test all-rounders’ list.
He will also proudly walk into the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur for the third and final one-day international against Zimbabwe as the first Bangladeshi cricketer to have achieved that mark.
With the series locked 1-1, Zimbabwe — still trying to regroup and revive their Test status they put on hold years ago — have nothing to lose against the series favourites home side.
Not only for the sake of the series, the Tigers also need to win this match to stay level with the lower-ranked Africans, who have already won two out of their three matches against them including one in the triangular series also involving Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh have had ups and downs in the series but a holiday crowd will look to their favourite cricketers to seal the series convincingly after a six-wicket win in the second match on Wednesday that cancelled the tourists’ lead following a two-wicket victory in the opener.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh have decided to retain the same side from the previous game.
The match will be telecast live by Bangladesh Television from 9 am.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
