Bangladesh eye to salvage some pride in their listless series as they take on South Africa in the third ODI today at Buffalo Park in East London. The match will start at 2pm (BST). Coming off a crushing 333 runs and an innings and 254 runs defeat in the two-match Test series and trailing by 0-2 in the ODI series following their 10-wicket and 104-run defeat, the third and final ODI is a mere dead rubber. Such was their performance in the whole series so far that Bangladesh would be pleased if they put up a good fight at least.

Bangladesh however were further jeopardised by the injury of Tamim Iqbal who is now ruled out from the whole series and is doubtful for the next month’s Bangladesh Premier League. Tamim’s thigh injury was only aggravated by playing the second ODI in which he scored 23 runs. Tamim is the second to

be ruled out from the series after pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman. In a horrible series, Soumya Sarkar was injured when he got pain on his shoulder, although he wasn’t ruled out. Mominul Haque will stay with the team for the T20 series also as a replacement of Tamim Iqbal.

Bangladesh’s batting hasn’t been as dismal as it was in the Test series but it hasn’t won them matches either. The batsmen didn’t fare badly but simply could convert the start which was badly required to put up a fight. Only one batsman so far has been standing tall in all matches and he was Mushfiqur Rahim. Comings off a mediocre Test series in both batting and captaincy-wise, he has scored 170 runs and has been dismissed once. Mushfiqur needs another 51 runs to bring up his most productive bilateral ODI series, surpassing the 220 runs he made against Pakistan in 2015.

Imrul Kayes has struck his first fifty this year in Paarl. One of the batsmen who may suffer as a result of this inconsistency is Liton Das, who could be replaced by Soumya Sarkar. South Africa’s bowling has been excellent in the series so far. Kagiso Rabada constantly pushed them back with his pace, movement and bounce while Imran Tahir and Andile Phehlukwayo have also been among the wickets.

But what has been hurting Bangladesh so far in the series is their bowling. They couldn’t live up to the expectation in the Test series and then failed to get any wicket in first ODI. Shakib Al Hasan’s quick wickets had given Bangladesh some hope in Paarl but once AB de Villiers began accelerating, particularly after crossing 100, there was little Bangladesh could do to stop him. Rubel Hossain dismissed de Villiers to bring some respite but the match highlighted once again the visitors’ struggles with the ball on this tour - they took a total of 13 wickets across three innings in the Test series, and only six in the two ODIs. Rubel however needs three wickets to become the fifth Bangladesh bowler to take 100 ODI wickets

As the series is ensured, South Africa may experiment with the team. Hashim Amla has already been rested and his replacement, Aiden Markram, could be in line for an ODI debut.

Temba Bavuma is another contender for that spot. Wiaan Mulder,

the 19-year-old allrounder, could replace Dwaine Pretorius.