Bangladesh and New Zealand continue their T20 series on Friday with the tourists looking to bounce back from one of their worst days on a cricket field in the opening game. Bangladesh will be looking for much more of where they left off in the first match.
Although the focus of both sides will be on preparing for the upcoming World T20, there is a series to be won and lost and a Bangladesh win here would have them in control of it. New Zealand could make it interesting with a series levelling win here.
Bangladesh
I’m not Bangladesh couldn’t believe how comfortable things were for them in the opening match of the series. At no stage were they in any trouble and if they can have a couple more matches like that they would be delighted. It is all well and good saying that conditions suit their game and that they should win and things like that but they still have to do it and they did it very well in that first game. They will be eager for a repeat performance here.
If there is something for Bangladesh to work on it would be their opening pair. They haven’t really got that part right either in this series so far or the one which preceded it against Australia. It didn’t matter in the first game because they were never not going to chase down 60 but it would have been nice from their point of view had their openers got them close to the target and a seven wicket win was actually a nine or 10 wicket one.
New Zealand
I don’t think too many people were surprised that New Zealand struggled in that opening match but I would imagine quite a few would have been shocked at just how badly they performed in that game. They had no idea how to do anything with the bat in their hand and while you would say they deserve credit for sticking at it with the ball in what was an impossible situation. The three scalps they took with them might be significant moving forward.
The big issue New Zealand have coming out of that first game is that they were expected to struggle against spin, which they did do, but half of the wickets they lost were to the seamers and if that is a trend that continues then they are probably going to give themselves no chance over the remainder of the series. If the spinners get them in conditions that suit them then so be it but they can’t afford to lose wickets to the seamers on top of that.
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Team News
There is no need for Bangladesh to make changes to their side and changes were at a premium even when they had the series won against Australia recently so it wouldn’t make much sense for them to switch things up now.
New Zealand have Finn Allen out of quarantine after he has returned a couple of negative Covid tests but it hasn’t been confirmed whether he is fit enough for this match. If he is he is likely to slot straight in. If he isn’t New Zealand could also be unchanged.
Betting
I’m a little surprised the sixes line for this match is as high as 6.5 when there wasn’t a single one in the first game. I don’t foresee a 60 all out plays 62/3 sort of match here but at the same time I’m not suddenly expecting 180 plays 180 either. We will probably get somewhere in the middle but if you take Colin de Grandhomme out of the equation there isn’t really what you would call a natural power hitter of the cricket ball on show in this match.
In that opening game New Zealand showed that when they get stuck against the spinners they panic and they also showed that they are not confident enough to leave their crease against them and the Bangladesh seamers aren’t exactly easy to get away at the best of times let alone in these conditions. Bangladesh showed they are content to knock the ball around rather than look flashy all of a sudden and with the pitch unlikely to play any easier under 6.5 sixes looks a natural pick.
Tips
Back Under 6.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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