Bangladesh out to level ODI series against New Zealand

In a bid to stay alive in the three-match series, Bangladesh will take on New Zealand in the second match at Saxton Oval in Nelson on Wednesday.

The match starts at 4AM (Bangladesh Time).

The Tigers lost the rain-hit first game by 44 runs on DLS method, a defeat that extended their losing streak to 17 in ODI format on New Zealand soil, BSS reports.

But unlike other times, Bangladesh pushed New Zealand hard in the opener, indicating that the series won’t be one-sided one.

The DLS method and rain actually affected Bangladesh’s strategic plan. After the first time game was reduced to 47, at least two bowlers were allowed to bowl 10 overs and the plan was designed that way.

Pacer Shoriful Islam swung the ball admirably to deal a double strike in the first over, which left New Zealand 5-2.

Then when Will young and Tom Latham was rebuilding the innings, Bangladesh Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto used the pacers for his desperate move to break the partnership. But the rain again came to shorten the game to 30 overs and by then the main bowlers of the team had already bowled five or six overs.

The game was reduced to 30 overs, meaning one bowler can bowl maximum six overs. As a result, Bangladesh had to bowl use part time bowlers like Soumya Sarkar and others in the death overs, which played to New Zealand favour as they scored 145 runs in the last 12 overs.

Shanto, however, should use his bowlers, keeping the rain factor in mind which he didn’t do.

But at the same time, the batters showed dismal performance yet again. As has been the case, the Bangladesh players found way to throw their wicket in innovative way on good pitch always. The likes of Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim, the two most experienced batters of the side just played wretched shot to gift their wicket when they could still close out the game.

Anamul Haque Bijoy who opened the innings played a 39 ball-43 to keep the run rate under control but like other Bangladesh batters he too didn’t know how to make the innings longer after getting set.

He pointed out this thing if Bangladesh wants to level the series. “It’s my fault of not making the innings longer. In fact we have to be careful to prolong the innings once we get set in the crease,” Bijoy said after the first match.

He also emphasized on coping with the bounce that the Black Caps bowlers could generate due to their height.

“We have to adjust with the bounce. All of them are tall and due to their height they got extra bounce, which mainly caused our dismissal. Hopefully we would learn quickly to deal with the bounce.”

Squad

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Vice Captain), Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Hasan Mahmud, Rishad Hossain and Rakibul Hasan

New Zealand: Tom Latham (Captain), Adi Ashok (games 2 & 3), Finn Allen, Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Henry Nicholls, Will O’Rourke, Rachin Ravindra and Will Young.