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Bangladesh men’s national cricket team will go against hosts New Zealand in their second match of the tri-series that also involves Pakistan at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch today.
A tamed approach saw them get beat by 21 runs against Pakistan in the opener on Friday and the literal sense of the word ‘impact’, which is being thrown around by the Tigers team management, is still yet to transcended onto the field.
A dismal record in New Zealand does not help Bangladesh’s cause as the Tigers have lost all seven T20Is in New Zealand. Overall, the Tigers have been on the losing side on 12 occasions out of the 15 matches played between the two nations.
The Blackcaps, on the other hand, are fresh from a comprehensive defeat against Pakistan and will be looking to sharpen their performances against an already downed Tigers.
On Friday, Bangladesh were well short of chasing Pakistan’s 167, courtesy of a familiar lacklustre batting approach, an epidemic that has haunted the Tigers’ performances in the format.
The ‘makeshift’ opening pair of Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sabbir Rahman failed to get the innings off to a solid start on a wicket decent wicket. The fact that the management is persisting with the makeshift pair is another issue on its own.
While most teams send out their openers to take the upper hand in the first six, Bangladesh at first with their choice of openers expects stability as well as a flying start, both of which are yet to be seen.
The openers’ approach set back the chase and the batters who followed walked in the same line as they couldn’t take the chase by the scruff of the neck.
Liton Das and Afif Hossain put together a 50-run stand, with the latter managing 25 off 23 balls before being caught out at deep mid-wicket.
A late flurry by Yasir Ali Chowdhury, who scored an unbeaten 42 off 21, only helped to reduce the deficit as the match was long gone.
While the openers managed 24 runs off 29, the middle order of Afif, Mosaddek, and Nurul Hasan Sohan could only score 33 off 33.
The biggest concern for the Tigers would be that they never looked like getting to the target of 167. The match seemed to have bypassed them at the halfway mark of their innings.
With several issues to address, improvement was the word of the day for stand-in skipper Nurul. Despite a lethargic batting approach, average fielding, and subpar death bowling, Nurul could only say that they must make improvements.
The good news for Bangladesh is that Shakib-Al-Hasan is expected to make a return to the side after he made a delayed arrival to New Zealand due to visa complications.
With the inclusion of Shakib, left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed might miss out. While the spinners on a flat track managed to put a lid on the scoring, the pace department with the exclusion of Taskin Ahmed suffered a hammering.
First-choice Mustafizur Rahman’s away woes continued as the pacer was taken to the parks, conceding 48 runs, while a returning Hasan Mahmud gave away 42.
