Bangladesh look to fine-tune T20 World Cup plans against inexperienced New Zealand

Overview

Bangladesh vs New Zealand, first T20I
Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur
September 1, 4 PM local

Bangladesh have been in great T20I form lately, first winning 2-1 away from home against Zimbabwe and then routing Australia 4-1 at home. With just five T20I matches to go before they fly to Oman for Round 1 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021, Bangladesh have one last opportunity to fine-tune their plans.

The return of Mushfiqur Rahim, who missed the series against Australia, will be a massive boost for Bangladesh and should fix the middle-order issues that plagued the side in the previous series.

The Black Caps have a massive challenge ahead of them on docile tracks in Bangladesh. Keeping player welfare in mind, the Blackcaps have named an inexperienced squad with Tom Latham standing in as captain.

New Zealand have already named their squad for the T20 World Cup, and none of the players from the Bangladesh tour will be a part of the global tournament. Despite that, players will be keen to make a mark, with a men's T20 World Cup also set to be played next year in Australia.

Remember the last time

New Zealand emerged 3-0 victors when Bangladesh toured them for a three-match series in March-April earlier this year.

In the first game, New Zealand posted a mammoth total of 210/3 on the back of half-centuries from Devon Conway (92*) and Will Young (53). Ish Sodhi's four-for broke the back of the Bangladesh batting line-up in their chase as they fell short by 66 runs.

Glenn Phillips was the star for the Blackcaps in the rain-curtailed second game with a Player of the Match-winning 31-ball 58* that set the visitors a target of 171 in 16 overs. Though Bangladesh gave more of a fight this time, they still lost by 28 runs on the DLS method.

The final game too was a truncated affair, with the match reduced to a 10-over-a-side encounter. Batting first yet again, a blitzkrieg from openers Martin Guptill (44 of 19 balls) and Finn Allen (71 off 29 balls) propelled the Kiwis to 141/4 in 10 overs. Bangladesh were bowled out for just 76 in their response as the Black Caps completed a whitewash.

What they said

Tom Latham (stand-in New Zealand captain): "It is pretty easy to motivate yourself when playing for the country. I personally haven't had a lot of opportunities in T20s, so it is exciting. Even for the other guys. Most of the guys have played T20s for New Zealand but probably not as much as they would like to. We have to enjoy ourselves out there and stick to a brand of cricket that we believe can be successful in these conditions. Our goal is to win the series."

Russell Domingo (Bangladesh coach): "Winning the series is important. We are playing at home, so we want to continue gaining confidence before the World Cup. In terms of areas of improvement, batting conditions have been really difficult. It would be great if we got some bigger scores, but that depends on what conditions allow you to do. I think bowling confidence and getting into a winning habit is also very important, so we must make sure we continue to do that."