Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand starts with a three-match ODI series, with the first fixture to be played at Dunedin’s University Oval on Saturday, March 20. And the visitors are widely expected to have an uphill task ahead of them.
The Bangla Tigers surely come to this series at the back of a whitewashed home ODI series win against West Indies, but they will know their dismal record against the Black Caps away from home.
| Head-to-Head in New Zealand | ||
| New Zealand | Metrics | Bangladesh |
| 13 | Matches | 13 |
| 13 | Wins | 0 |
| 100% | Win Percentage | 0% |
Even if the factor of away conditions are stripped, Bangladesh have still been an underperformer against New Zealand in the 50-over format having an under-par winning 28.6%.
| Head-to-Head (Overall) | ||
| New Zealand | Metrics | Bangladesh |
| 35 | Matches | 35 |
| 25 | Wins | 10 |
| 71.4% | Win Percentage | 28.6% |
To further make things worse for Bangladesh, their away record in bilateral series isn't encouraging, with only one win coming in West Indies in 2018. Bangladesh have lost to Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and South Africa in their last five series.
Although not very dominating, New Zealand have maintained their home superiority by winning three of their last give bi-lateral series at home, which came against India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
The venue for New Zealand vs Bangladesh 1st ODI, University Oval, remains a batting-friendly one with an average of 44 boundaries and 10.2 sixes being hit in that ground in the last 5 ODIs.
This bodes well for both sides who have batting heavy squads. While New Zealand have averaged 22.6 fours and 5.2 sixes in their last 5 ODI matches, Bangladesh have hit 20.2 fours and five sixes on an average in the same number of ODIs.
Both the teams have some great individual performers with the bat, and surprisingly, Kane Williamson’s absence leaves Bangladesh with an edge in this department.
| Players likely to score 50 for Bangladesh |
||||||||
| Players | Matches | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | Strike Rate | 100 | 50 |
| HM Nicholls5 | 5 | 5 | 264 | 80 | 52.8 | 76.96 | 0 | 3 |
| MJ Guptil | 5 | 5 | 236 | 79 | 47.2 | 91.82 | 0 | 2 |
| TWM Latham | 5 | 5 | 193 | 69 | 48.25 | 100.52 | 0 | 1 |
| Players likely to score 50 for Bangladesh |
||||||||
| Players | Matches | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | Strike Rate | 100 | 50 |
| Tamim Iqbal | 5 | 5 | 444 | 158 | 111 | 94.46 | 2 | 2 |
| Liton Das | 5 | 5 | 221 | 176 | 44.2 | 99.1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mushfiqur Rahim | 4 | 4 | 147 | 64 | 73.5 | 91.3 | 0 | 2 |
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Michael Bradley
