Tigresses out to avoid ‘same mistakes’ against Australia

Despite suffering a heavy defeat of 118 runs in the first ODI, Bangladesh are confident of turning things around in the second ODI against the mighty Aussies on Sunday. Legspinner Fahima Khatun thinks Australia struggled more than they did against any other teams in the recent past, and it was due to the hosts' mistakes with the ball that they could get away with such a huge victory. 

Australia managed to score 213 runs in the first match despite losing their first five wickets for 78 runs. Chasing the target, the hosts were bundled out for 95 runs. Fahima, who conceded 29 runs in the final over, believes the sloppy bowling performance in the middle overs cost Tigresses the match.

"We started bowling the way we wanted to, our goal was to restrict them to a low total using our strengths. They are a much bigger team, but we didn't let that intimidate us. We tried to play to our strengths. We bowled quite well, yes, there were a few missed catches and misfields in the middle. That's why they managed to cross the 200-run mark," Fahima said in the pre-match press conference.

According to Fahima, the Bangladesh team's strategy for the remaining matches in the series remains the same. 

"The fielding unit has worked hard over the past few months. Perhaps there have been a few odd misses. Otherwise, we could have kept Australia under 150 runs. However, in tomorrow's match, our goal will remain the same — alongside our bowling strengths, we'll focus on fielding well and restricting them to as few runs as possible. And when batting, we'll definitely aim to set a challenging target," she added.

Australia, on the other hand, are aiming to improve their game in 'difficult conditions'.

"Certainly, the aim, I think we've reviewed the game. The first game went really well and identified a few areas that we wanna improve as always and that's the plan," Annabel Sutherland, who scored an unbeaten half-century in the first match, said.

The match will begin at 9:30 am BST.