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Do or die for Bangladesh to keep the series alive


Published : 18 Dec 2023 08:51 PM

After winning the first ODI by a comfortable margin, New Zealand will look to clinch the 3-match series as it hosts Bangladesh for the 2nd ODI on tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Saxton Oval in Nelson. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh must have to win to keep the series alive. 

New Zealand has been the dominant side in past head-to-head encounters against Bangladesh. Out of the 43 such matches played so far, the former has won 32, while Bangladesh has won 10. 1 match was ended without any result. 

The Black caps was clinical in its performance during the first ODI as they defeated the visitors by 44 runs in a rain-curtailed encounter.

Will Young was in excellent form as he smashed a century on Sunday to take his team to a match-winning total. His partnership of 171 runs with Tom Latham for the 3rd wicket helped the hosts recover after losing two wickets in the first over.

Rachin Ravindra had a rare off day with the bat as he was dismissed for a duck. He will look to bounce back in this match. The other batsmen in the middle order include Henry Nicholls and Tom Blundell, while all-rounders Mark Chapman and Josh Clarkson add depth to the batting.

Clarkson, who made his ODI debut, was in fine form with the ball as he picked up 2 wickets. He, along with Adam Milne will be the key seamers for the hosts. Ish Sodhi will not be available for this match and is likely to be replaced by young Adithya Ashok. 

 Tigers will be very disappointed with the way they performed in the first ODI. While not many expected them to win, it was the quantum of the loss that will hurt the team more.

The bowling was one of the biggest letdowns for the team in this match. Except for Shoriful Islam, none of the bowlers looked threatening at any stage of the game. Hasan Mahmud and Mustafizur Rahman remained wicketless, while Soumya Sarkar and Mehidy Hasan Miraz went for over 10 runs per over.

With only full-time seamers, the visitors are severely lacking in their bowling. Soumya Sarkar, who is back in the team after a long break, was out for a duck. He will need to work on his batting if he wants to justify his return.

Anamul Haque, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Towhid Hridoy got good starts but squandered them away by playing some loose shots.

Bangladesh has plenty of depth in its batting thanks to Mehidy Hasan and Afif Hossain, but a lot will depend on the batting of the top and middle order.