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Bangladesh are eyeing a maiden ODI series sweep against India, and as a result, will not rest players or drop their intensity for the final game, according to their fielding coach Shane McDermott. The home side sealed the ODI series by winning the second game by five runs in Dhaka, but McDermott said that the team has learned enough lessons in the last two years not to put their guard down. All members of the Bangladesh squad came to their optional training session at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Friday, except Mehidy Hasan Miraz, captain Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Ebadot Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman. "You have to ask the selectors (about the playing XI) but when you are playing against India representing your country, unless there's a workload management issue, I don't think Bangladesh is in a position to rest players for the sake of resting players," McDermott said. "We are not in the habit of winning consistently enough at the moment to have the luxury to leave good players out. We will be looking to pick our best team as often as possible, to win as many games as we can. The job is never done. We don't take international matches lightly. This team has never beaten India 3-0, that's a massive goal for us. "Even when we don't win 3-0, we really pride ourselves on being hard to beat. We have come close against Pakistan in New Zealand. We came close to potentially making it to the T20 World Cup semi-finals. We have been competitive and we are in pressure moments more often than not. I know that after the series win, the boys have one eye on one more win in this ODI series." Despite the series win, however, Bangladesh's top order is a worry. They slipped to 69 for 6 after 19 overs in the second ODI, having already collapsed to 136 for 9, chasing 187, in the first game. Only Litton has looked in good form, while the rest have either given away promising starts or been dismissed early. "It has been a common concern for us. It will be a better wicket here (in Chattogram) with more value for shots. Our KPI from a batting point of view is to have one of our top five batter around till the 40th over, to take the game as deep as we can. "Guys are getting through that tough patch of the first 20 balls, the hardest time to bat. It is the next step now to take that 20 balls to 50-100 balls and that match-winning innings. Someone from the top five has to start doing it." McDermott was happy with how Bangladesh have caught and fielded during this series. They dropped three chances in the series so far, taking eleven catches, and have generally improved their catching this year compared to 2021. Ebadot and Anamul Haque dropped two catches in the dying moments of India's chase in the second ODI, but McDermott explained that he wouldn't read too much into those drops as the team won in the end. "KL Rahul dropped one as well, so we all drop catches. Talking about the fear factor, we think about potentially what are the repercussions of dropping a catch when the ball is in the air. We see a lot of high balls dropped under lights, because fielders have time to think. Trying to train what we think when the ball is in the air, is a very hard task. But it can be learned. "When we drop catches under lights in critical moments, we create one of the greatest learning experiences. When the player walks off the ground, hopefully having won the game, we can easily say to them that look, catches don't lose matches. It is a fact. It happens quite regularly. It is a part of the game. "Obviously we want to drop as few catches as possible. As a team, if we drop a catch, our support staff and our team are gelling together really well. We are trying to keep everyone's spirits high. Who knows, it could be someone else tomorrow to drop one. We could lose the match, but as I said before, we are very happy with the way the boys are training and committing on and off the field," he said. McDermott said that he is enjoying his second term in Bangladesh after spending couple of years as the National Cricket Academy's head coach in the early 2000s. It was a period when the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah came through the NCA's high performance unit to get into the senior team. He said that returning to Bangladesh earlier this year as the fielding coach was a smooth transition due to the friendships he had with many in the country. "I loved my experience here back in 2006 to 2008. I worked for the Academy, A team and national team 15 odd years ago. It was great to see the likes of Mahmudullah and Mushi debut and now working with them at the end of their career. I think they are surrounded by a very good group of young and positive players. We have a good base of four or five senior players. They have been excellent at nurturing new players into the squad. "It is nice having friendships with senior players a long time ago. It has made the transition of coming back a lot easier. I love to watch them grow. Shakib, Mushfiq and Mahmudullah are the best players the country has ever produced. It is a fact, statistically. It is very humbling to be back here to work with them again."
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