Tigers to leave for NZ today

Bangladesh National Men’s Cricket team will leave for New Zealand on Friday to play a tri-nation series against the hosts and Pakistan as part of their World Cup preparation.

The Tigers will leave Dhaka at 11:55 PM and will reach Christchurch on October 2.

All the 19 players in the World Cup squad, including the reserves, will be travelling down under.

Bangladesh will play a minimum of four matches in New Zealand, all of which are in Christchurch. Their first match will be against Pakistan on October 7, before facing New Zealand on October 9. Bangladesh will face the Blackcaps again on October 12, before facing Pakistan the next day.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan will join the team directly from the Caribbeans, where he was busy playing in the Caribbean Premier League.

Bangladesh also brought changes to their support staff as they replaced Nafees Iqbal as the team operations manager. Rabeed Imam will take his place in the tri-series and the ensuing T20 World Cup.

Bangladesh started their World Cup preparations earlier with a two-match Twenty20 International series against the United Arab Emirates, where they won 2-0.

Captain Shakib did not play the series as Nurul Hasan Sohan led the team.