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Bangladesh failed to seal the series in the third twenty20 international of their five-match against New Zealand, but they will have another shot at it in the fourth T20I on Wednesday.
After their bowlers restricted New Zealand for 128 in the third match, a horror batting show meant the Tigers were bowled out for only 76 and lost by 52 runs.
The submission was neither to the pitch nor to the Blackcaps bowlers; it was their shot selection that they succumbed to.
Almost every batsman made sure that they got out, despite wickets falling regularly and the only batsman to stick around, Mushfiqur Rahim, played a weird knock of 20 off 37 deliveries.
Earlier in the third T20I, Henry Nicholls and Tom Blundell put up a 66-run stand in off 55 deliveries, displaying how to bat on the tricky yet playable surface.
Bangladesh batting coach Ashwell Prince believed that chasing down the total was possible if the batsmen were composed during the chase.
“We could have been a little bit more composed in the run chase. We had a beautiful start. We were about 20-odd for no wickets after two overs and ahead of the run rate. But what happened in the next 3-4 overs, we lost too many wickets too quickly and possibly we were being too aggressive early on.
“I don’t think the pitch changed much. I think 129 was a competitive score. But I think we could have got it if we were a little bit calmer,” he said in a video message on Tuesday.
The wickets have gotten better with time as the first T20I of the series produced the worst pitch of them all. But a defeat in the third match might see Bangladesh revert to their strategy from the Australia series, where the pitches were nothing but minefields for the batsmen.
Bangladesh also might bring some changes to their XI as left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam, who was impressive against Australia but has not featured in this series yet, might make his way into the XI replacing Mohammad Saifuddin.
After a couple of matches at no. 4, Shakib Al Hasan might again get the nod at no. 3, where he has been the most successful in recent years. Shakib is also on the verge of a milestone as a couple of wickets will see him become the highest wicket-taker in T20I history, the first-ever Bangladeshi to achieve such a record.
Mustafizur Rahman, who has 72 T20I wickets, also has an achievement in sight as he will enter the list of top ten wicket-takers in T20I history with a couple of wickets on Wednesday.
The fourth T20I will again see Nurul Hasan Sohan take the gloves despite head coach Russell Domingo saying before the series that wicket-keeping duties will be split between Sohan and Mushfiq in the first four matches.
But Sohan took up the gloves in the third match too, and after the match, Domingo said that Mushfiq told him that he probably doesn’t want to keep in T20Is.
“There has been a change after speaking to Mushi. He was going to keep after the second game. Mushfiq told me that he probably doesn’t want to keep in T20 cricket anymore. We got to move on. I don’t think Mushfiq’s desire to keep is great in this format anymore. So we gotta focus on Sohan and possibly let him do the duties going into the competition,” the South African said.
New Zealand, on the other hand, are unlikely to ring in any changes after their first victory on the tour. Finn Allen, who recovered from Covid-19 and played his first match on Sunday, gave them a quick start, and their spinners have been in fine touch in all the matches.
Bangladesh, who are eyeing their first-ever series win against New Zealand in the shortest format, will try to finish the job in the fourth T20I, but New Zealand will try to level up the series on Wednesday.
