Test series: 67%...

Just a dead rubber to go now. I'm not sure we will pass ZIM if we lose this one and settle for 2-1 on the rankings table. Anyways here are my thoughts...

1) First off, hats off to ZIM for pushing us to the point of terror. Yes, in Dhaka we were 0-3 chasing 101, and then 62-6 and 80 odd for 7. You made us sweat till the very end. It was a tough wicket that even a world class team would have struggled on. No shame in that, on the ZIM end. BD could have been more disciplined and won comfortably by 5+ wickets, but that is how the game goes. In Khulna, Day 3 ended with ZIM in a position of relative dominance. ZIM have a habit of competing for the first 3 days (all 3 tests vs PAK, NZ test, SA test). Even late into day 5, BD were staring at an embarassing draw when Regis and Hammy had counterattacked beutifully from 15-3 to reach 85-3. It took a very good spell from teenage Jubair and the usual excellance from Shakib to avert a catastrophic result (why did Rahim wait so long to declare and give his bowlers so few overs if it hadn't worked out, people would ask). Its tough to not feel for the ZIM because of how hard they fought. BD players are often lazy, entitled, talk a lot of s**t that isn't backed up by performance and we are justifiably hated by the int'l cricketing fraternity. ZIM have oodles of respect for staying humble and working their butts off.

2) I think ZIM will be solid in a couple of years once Welch and Burl join the ranks and guys like Regis continue to develop. Hammy played out of his skin, but I am still not convinced that he's anything but a "minnow basher", if he performs like this against a top 8 side, I'll be happy to eat humble pie. But I feel his performance is more indicative of a ceiling and not a median performance. That being said, he's not terribly old, and has at least a few years to take his average to right side of 30. But I think Regis is the real deal, and along with Taylor, Williams, and Ervine can form a formidable lineup for the rest of this decade especially once Welch and Burl slot in as well.

3) Shakib al Hasan!

4) In light of #3 above its easy to forget Taijul, but I think he did exceptionally well. Young Jubair also took crucial wickets and broke that key Regis-Hammy partnership part deuce.

5) From a BD perspective, we were scared in both matches so far, but are relieved and satisfied with the results so far. We know it will be a tough proposition to win in ZIM, so we need to take every advantage at home. Anything less than 3-0 would have been a failure at the start of the series, and will be so now, even though a good number of BD fans themselves doubted if we can make it 3-0. 3-0 is probably all but certain now.