The third match of the T20 Tri-Series sees the two sides yet to win in the competition meeting when New Zealand go up against Bangladesh with the winner edging towards the final and the loser putting the pressure on themselves over the second part of the group phase.
Ultimately I’m sure both teams will tell you that this competition is practice ahead of the T20 World Cup which begins next week but making the final will provide an extra match to fine tune all their preparations so it could yet be important.
New Zealand
I think it was a surprise that New Zealand went down to Pakistan in their opening match in the competition on Saturday. Although they hadn’t been as active as Pakistan recently, they were in the country for a long period ahead of this tournament beginning but it didn’t seem to make any difference. It looked like a rusty performance from New Zealand and teams can always be forgiven for one of them these days, but it does add a little scrutiny on them here.
New Zealand will be expected to beat Bangladesh but the problem with losing to Pakistan is that if they had plans to rotate their stock throughout the first part of this competition they might need to shelve them because two defeats on the spin would not be a good look so they might feel that winning this match is more important. If they are going to do that then they will need to bat a lot better than they did against Pakistan.
Bangladesh
If Bangladesh were feeling sorry for themselves after their opening defeat to Pakistan on Friday then they might be a little bit brighter on their outlook after they watched that side win a second match in succession on Saturday. These next three matches are big for Bangladesh you feel. They carry almost no confidence and momentum with them towards the T20 World Cup and surely need to find something in the next few days else it could be a long month for them.
Bangladesh didn’t really do either discipline that well in the opening game against Pakistan, although to be fair they were going up against decent opponents. There was always the fear that their bowlers would struggle in these conditions and that is how it proved but their batting fell well short of the levels we would expect of them and that has to change for them to have any chance in the main event over the next few weeks.
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Team News
New Zealand remain without Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner and news recently broke that they are having to manage the fitness of Lockie Ferguson so if he isn’t good to go here then they might be unchanged from the Pakistan defeat.
Bangladesh will be looking to have Shakib Al Hasan available sometime soon. He has made his way over from the Caribbean Premier League and will come straight in when he is ready to play. Mosaddek Hossain didn’t have a great opening game and could be most vulnerable.
Betting
The pitch at Hagley Oval hasn’t looked the easiest to bat on so far but I still don’t think there is any justification for a 9.5 sixes line in this match. If New Zealand bat first and their bigger hitters get going against a bowling attack which looks a little out of its depth on these pitches then there is every chance that the home side could cover this line or go pretty close to getting to it. They didn’t really get going against Pakistan and still hit four sixes on Saturday.
Bangladesh hit that same Pakistan attack for five sixes and I don’t think pound for pound that this New Zealand bowling unit is as good as that Pakistan one. When you factor in that was a day game and this is a night game and we saw the ground close to saturated in the second innings on Saturday there is the potential for more sixes sin this one as bowling gets difficult. You don’t see a 9.5 sixes line in this format very often but I’m happy to take the over.
Tips
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