In Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla Stadium today, Bangladesh will face New Zealand in the first match of a three-match One Day International (ODI) series. The match is scheduled to start at 2:00 PM. Both teams have given some of their cricketers a rest before this series, as they have their eyes set on the upcoming World Cup.
New Zealand has brought only five players who were part of their World Cup squad for this tour to Bangladesh. Bangladesh, on the other hand, has not been performing consistently well lately. Despite reaching the Super Four stage in the Asia Cup, they couldn’t perform well against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The expectations are high for Bangladesh to perform better in their home ground.
In 2010, Bangladesh won an ODI series against New Zealand with a 4-0 margin, which introduced the term “Banglawash.” In 2013, Bangladesh also won an ODI series against New Zealand with a 3-0 margin. Since then, New Zealand hasn’t played ODIs in Bangladesh until this series.
However, in the T20I series in 2021, Bangladesh won 3-2 against New Zealand. Apart from Zimbabwe, Bangladesh has not played any Test series against any other country besides the occasional bilateral tours.
The question for readers is, can Bangladesh defeat New Zealand in the series and move ahead?
