The hosts New Zealand will go into the third and the final ODI of the series against Bangladesh with an unbeatable lead of 2-0. However, the Bangladeshi side will have much to play for after having being outclassed in both the ODIs and the T20I before that.
It is only natural to expect the New Zealanders go into the game as firm favourites and that has more to do with the manner in which the opposition has played than anything else. That reflects in the odds of 1/10 offered by Boylesport for the hosts to sweep the series 3-0 as compared to Bet Fred’s 13/2 for Bangladesh to pull one back.
Bangladesh will so hope for their batsmen to come good and perform like how they had in 2009. However, the difference between then and now is that most of the games that they played were at home and against the lowly rivals like Zimbabwe and a half-baked West Indian side. That has meant that players apart from Tamim Iqbal (4/1 at Totesport) and to a lesser extent Imrul Kayes (6/1 at 888Sport, both to top-score for Bangladesh) have failed to get going and that has spelt doom for the side.
Mohammad Ashraul (5/1 at Sky Bet to top-score for his side) has had a woeful run-up, having scored 263 runs in his last 15 innings. And there is every chance that he may be dropped for the third game and replaced.
The New Zealand side seems to have covered all its bases, and apart from a couple of games in which Brendon McCullum (3/1 at Bet Fred to top the Kiwi batting) has struggled with his bat, the rest of them have all clicked. The main worry for the Bangladeshis will be from Ross Taylor (7/2 at Sky Bet to be the best bat for his side) and Jacob Oram (12/1 at Sky Bet to top-score for the Kiwis), both of whom have a tendency to take the match away from the not-so-strong Bangladeshi bowling.
James Franklin (12/1 at Bet365 to top-score for his side) is the one batsman I will be most interested in following. He had started his career as a bowling all-rounder, but with the dwindling away of his batting form, he has converted himself into a frontline, top-order batsman.
Tips:
Favourites: New Zealand (1/10 at Boylesport)
Top Kiwi batsman: James Franklin (12/1 at Bet365)
Top Bangladeshi batsman: Tamim Iqbal (4/1 at Totesport)