Bangladesh check the prep boxes

While the Bangladesh players were doing their usual box-passing drills with a football ahead of their training session on Tuesday, Robiul Islam walked out of the home dressing-room and began stretching. He has been a regular presence in the nets alongside Al-Amin Hossain since the Fatullah Test. He was followed by legspinner Jubair Hossain, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and pace bowler Shafiul Islam, who also limbered up to have a bowl in the nets.

The group had been training at the High Performance centre next door at the National Cricket Academy ground and they were called up to provide better practice to the Bangladesh batsmen readying themselves for the third and final ODI against India, with a shot at a 3-0 sweep.

Usually at Bangladesh's training sessions at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, there is a stream of net bowlers, mostly semi-professional youngsters from nearby cricket academies. This time, however, the team management pulled out all stops and called on players who are a part of the larger team pool.

Robiul and Shafiul are on the fringes of the side while Jubair and Taijul are regular Test players these days. A couple of hours after the session, Jubair was added to the 14-man ODI squad as a bowling option. Mahmudullah - one of the players behind Bangladesh's recent surge - was also there and although he was only doing personal fitness drills, it added to the all-round good mood.

Ahead of the second ODI, the visiting Indian journalists were curious about a piece of granite slab that was brought out for training. It was present during Bangladesh's build-up for this year's World Cup and the Pakistan series as well, to help batsmen adjust to seam movement and skidding deliveries. It was another example of the side's intent when it came to preparations.

The mood around the Bangladesh dressing-room, too, is festive. On Tuesday, there was constant banter as they encouraged each other in box-passing. The chatter went up a notch as soon as the captain Mashrafe Mortaza entered the game. He doesn't hold back while playing anything, and he jostled those shorter than him and needled a couple of the senior players on the field.

Robiul, Shafiul, Taijul bowled to Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim while several offspinners bowled to left-handers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar, who are likely to play a lot of R Ashwin.

If the weather improves - there has been heavy rain in the last 24 hours in Mirpur and both sides trained under leaden skies on Tuesday - Bangladesh have a huge opportunity to complete a clean-sweep against India. They have had ten clean-sweeps in bilateral series since August 2006. The most significant have been the 4-0 and 3-0 defeats handed out to New Zealand in 2010 and 2013 respectively and the 3-0 win in April against Pakistan. The others came against a third-string West Indies side in 2009, twice each against Kenya and Zimbabwe and once each against Ireland and Scotland.

It was former cricketer-turned-commentator Athar Ali Khan who coined the phrase Banglawash after Bangladesh crushed New Zealand 4-0 in 2010. The success went mostly unnoticed on a larger scale but that was the first indication from Bangladesh that when they are on a roll, especially at home, they can be very competitive.

The momentum is with the home side who have prepared to the best of their ability and resources available. Since the 2011 World Cup, the day leading up to a big game in Bangladesh is as exciting as the match itself, and the presence of the some of their frontline bowlers ahead of the third game added to the festivity and anticipation. If the weather holds and if Bangladesh can better the 2-0 scoreline against India, all the preparation will have paid off richly.