‘If we lose, we somehow get puzzled’ – Mashrafe Mortaza

Bangladesh take on Zimbabwe in a series of three one-day internationals, to be followed by two Tests, with the first slotted for Sunday, 21 October. And they will be without Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, arguably their biggest stars, for the whole series.

Rubel Hossain’s absence because of an illness has come as another blow to the team. Not to forget that bar Graeme Cremer, Zimbabwe have their entire first-choice squad on tour.

"It is not like they have not beaten us in the past. We have the challenge to play like the way we played in the Asia Cup [where Bangladesh lost off the last ball in the final against India] because if we are unable to perform in the following series, it will naturally lead to some hue and cry,” said Mortaza before the first game.

“'I think we need to work on those aspects because it is not a fact that we did not lose against them or they cannot beat us. 'They have got back some senior cricketers into the squad and naturally, we will have to play our 100 per cent to beat them.”

Looking at the table – Bangladesh are No.7 and Zimbabwe No.11 on the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings – Bangladesh, especially at home, should start as favourites. But the absence of the stalwarts might mean a cautious approach and not much experimentation.

“For example, we opt to try four new cricketers irrespective of whether we lose or win. But in our culture, it matters how everyone will take it because we cannot take losses easily and it always remains at the back of the mind,” pointed out Mortaza.

“In some other places, we see they back the cricketers for a long time but in our case, if we lose we somehow get puzzled and we cannot deny it.”