This is a big opportunity for us - Shakib

In the last 11 years, Bangladesh have won only three out of nine deciding matches in a bilateral ODI series comprising three or more games. The three wins have come against Zimbabwe in 2005 and 2009, and against West Indies in 2012.The third ODI in Chittagong on Wednesday gives them a chance to add another win to that list - this time against South Africa.

After losing to South Africa by eight wickets in the first game, Bangladesh bounced back in the second match with a seven-wicket win. With the three-match series tied 1-1, Bangladesh have a chance to claim their third straight home bilateral series win in 2015 and allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has little doubt about the importance of the occasion.

"This is big, no doubt," Shakib said. "We haven't achieved such things before. Whenever you go to achieve something you haven't, then it will obviously seem big. We haven't beaten South Africa in a series before so that is a big deal.

"Every match is important for us. Whenever we get on the field, we think the same but all matches don't go according to plan. Because this is the series decider, however, it is important. We haven't lost at home in a long time. So this will be another opportunity for us if we can win this match. I won't tell you how big a match this is, but this is a very big opportunity for us."

Against Zimbabwe in 2005, Bangladesh were trailing 2-0 in the five-match series before they made a comeback and won the decider by eight wickets. In the three-match series against Zimbabwe in January 2009, they lost the first match but bounced back quite comfortably to win the series 2-1. Against West Indies, they took a 2-0 lead in Khulna before losing the third and fourth games, and the fifth ODI was a tight affair which they won by two wickets.

Shakib was a part of two of those turnarounds and it was his bowling that brought Bangladesh back into contention in the current series against South Africa. Shakib stated that his returns of 0 for 30 in the ten overs in the second ODI in Mirpur was his best bowling performance in recent times, which should be encouraging for Bangladesh after he had conceded difficulty in bowling before the Tests against Pakistan in late April. He is only two wickets away from becoming the seventh cricketer - after Sanath Jayasuriya, Shahid Afridi, Jacques Kallis, Abdul Razzaq, Chris Harris and Chris Cairns - to take 200 wickets and score 4000 runs in ODIs.

"I think after a long time I bowled quite well in the last match," Shakib said. "I was satisfied personally. After a long time I think I bowled as I wanted to. If you get rewards, then you will feel good but I am not that disappointed regarding those things. I am happy as long as I can contribute.

"I don't think I have changed much in my bowling. But the opponent's batsmen don't charge at me as much as before so in one-dayers it is difficult to get wickets, unless you have a pitch of that kind. I think you also need luck to get wickets. I try to do everything that is in my hands."

Shakib said that the team's confidence has remained even after contrasting results in the series: "Actually I don't think our confidence will go down the drain when we lose one match or be sky-high if we win one match. No player thinks that way. All our matches are important. It's not possible [to win] all the time but I am sure that if we can stick to our processes then it's possible to do well at home."