||CF Correspondent||

Bangladesh gave a serious indication of developing as a cricket nation as they rested some of their tested youngster to provide room for some new faces against Zimbabwe in the last ODI of the three-match.

Though the match was nothing more than a sheer formality as Tigers secured the series by winning the first two matches, the plan to give rest to Mehidy Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman clearly show their depth if not anything else.

The absence of Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal from the beginning of the series due to their respective injuries hardly looked to have any kind of impact on the Tigers as they won the first two ODIs quite comprehensively.

The openers looked to be in good stead to manage the top of the order while the bowlers put up combined effort to help them clinch the series without any trouble.

The Zimbabwe series is considered to be an ideal platform for the hosts to take a look at the options they have ahead of the World Cup but with two leading cricketers missing it could hardly be considered as a justified gamble.

Considering a loss will not only help the hosting nation earn a psychological boost while it will also hamper the confidence to some extent but the point to be noted is that they have begun the journey for the World Cup.

The Tigers’ skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza more often than not urged that they need to make sure that they don’t derail from their ultimate goal – the World Cup – and the series ending match laid a proof in that direction too.

Bangladesh’s preference to form their eleven with five pacers only proves that it was a step towards seeing how they react considering their hunt for a pace-bowling all-rounder at the present.

Along the way injury management also looks to be a big concern for the Men in Red and Green ahead of their World Cup-journey and it was decided that the Tigers will follow some rotation policy if required to keep all of them available for the global event.