New Zealand will start their last home assignment of the summer against Bangladesh. Kiwis defeated the Asian side 3-0 in the home series.
Match Timings: Mar 28, 6:30 AM IST
Team Preview
New Zealand and Bangladesh will face each other in the first T20I of the 3-match series. Tim Southee will lead the side in the absense of injured Kane Williamson. New Zealand are undefeated in this long home summer and didn’t lose a single series. Out of three T20I series, they lost three games which is remarkable. They recently defeated Australia 3-2 in the T20I series at home. New Zealand introduced young players this summer and they found some new match-winner such as Devon Conway who is the leading run-scorer of the home summer. Finn Allen has earned the maiden T20I call-up. The 21-year-old opener scored 512 runs in Super Smash at an average of 56 and the strike-rate of 193. Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne have also returned to the squad after recovering from the injuries. Most of the New Zealand players are part of the Indian T20 League and they will fly directly to India after the series.
Blackcaps overcame Bangladesh 3-0 in the recently concluded ODI series. They dominated the whole series and visitors didn’t even trouble Kiwis. They gave some scars in 2nd ODI but overall, it was a pure failure from Bangladesh. New Zealand is the strongest side in this format. Martin Guptill was out of the form but he scored runs in the Australia series to get his form back. Tim Seifert has been dropped and Conway will be the wicketkeeper who has the great numbers in T20Is since his debut. New Zealand looks slightly a different side after resting some key players. Finn Allen may get the T20I cap in the opening game and he can open with Guptill.
Meanwhile, everything is going wrong for Bangladesh as they lost another away series. Tamim would look to get at least one victory on this tour to boost their morale. Shakib’s absense hurt their goals and they lacked in middle-order. Second ODI was the only good game they played brilliantly. They were bowled out below 160 twice in the series and conceded 300 once. Tamim played one good knock but the consistency was missing from all batsmen. The Bowling unit wasn’t so impressive and New Zeland charged the innings with ease. Changes are likely to happen but Bangladesh has to go with an attacking approach. Their wait for the victory in New Zealand continues and the T20 format may change this drought but it will not be an easy task. Tamim and Rahim both have to take the accountability in the batting unit, followed by the bowing responsibility from Mustafizur. New Zealand are the favourites to win this fixture and Bangladesh will wait for another day to change the history.
Pitch Report
Seddon Park’s surface is highly rated for batting. The outfield is quick and the boundaries are short. We may expect a high-scoring affair. Chasing would be a better call after winning the toss.
Possible XI
New Zealand
Tim Southee (c), Finn Allen, Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Will Young
Bangladesh
Tamim Iqbal (c), Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain
Key Players
New Zealand
Devon Conway
Home summer – 325 runs at an average of 54.17
Tim Southee
Home summer – 13 wickets at an average of 54.17
Bangladesh
Liton Das
Last 5 T20Is – 148 runs at an average of 37
Mustafizur Rahman
Last 5 T20Is – 6 wickets at an SR of 19
