Sports Reporter :
Bangladesh vowed to bring up their best game in a bid to stay alive in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand (NZ) as they take on the hosts in the second match at Hagley Oval in Christchurch today.
The match starts at 7 am, Bangladesh Standard Time and it will be aired live at Bangladesh Television (BTV), Gazi TV and T-Sports channel.
The Tigers came up with disappointing batting show in the first ODI and lost the game by eight-wicket margin which was a blow to their ambition of doing well against New Zealand. Bangladesh need to recover from 131 all-out in 1st ODI which the skipper Tamim Iqbal explained they are not a team to make 131 runs.
Specially in batting they need regroup as captain Tamim Iqbal suggested after the first game. The captain urged the batsmen to take more responsibility in a bid to stay alive in the series.
“I thought there were too many soft dismissals. No doubt they bowled really well, but we have ourselves to blame,” Tamim said.
“We take pride in our batting and that was nowhere near enough. We had a couple of days here, I cannot complain about our preparation. It’s not new to us, we know what to expect. And we hope we put up a better performance,” he added.
Above all, Bangladesh still believes that they are capable of making a turnaround despite being completely outplayed in the first game.
“We are not that bad team to lose a game like this (the first match),” Bangladesh’s young all-rounder Mahedi Hasan said.
Bangladesh middle order batsman Mohammad Mithun termed their bowling attack as ‘good enough’, saying that they could rely on the bowlers to bounce back in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand.
“If you want your bowling unit to be successful, the batsmen must give them a good target to defend,” Mithun said in a recorded video message sent by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Monday.
Likely XI:
Bangladesh :Tamim Iqbal (capt), Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin.
New Zealand : Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Devon Conway, Will Young, Tom Latham (capt & wk), James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Trent Boult.
