Bangladesh will look to add to the woes of the New Zealand team and finish the year on a high when they face the visitors in a one-off Twenty20 International at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today. Bangladesh won the three-match one-day international series by a 3-0 margin to earn their second successive clean sweep against the Black Caps in ODIs, following their 0-0 draw in the two-match Test series earlier.
A Twenty20 success would be the icing on the cake for the Tigers, who have never defeated New Zealand in this format.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim is laying his chances on his players’ newly grown confidence, which increased with each passing day after putting in remarkable performances to humiliate the visitors in the ODI series.
The match will also provide them with an ideal opportunity to examine their strengths and weaknesses in the shortest format, regarded as their weakest, before the forthcoming World Twenty20 on home soil.
‘Definitely our goal is to win the match to end the year in a high note, more so after playing so consistently,’ Mushfiq said on Tuesday.
‘Everyone is prepared as the World Twenty20 is lying ahead, but we don’t have the chance to play a lot of matches before that.
‘This is a good opportunity for us to implement the game plan that we have for this format and how to take the home advantage. Hopefully the boys will play well,’ he said.
The Tigers will be missing their swashbuckling opener Tamim Iqbal, who was ruled out of Wednesday’s match after it was found that he had not recovered sufficiently from the lower abdominal strain that had kept him sidelined in the last ODI.
Tamim’s absence could prove crucial, as he carried his side in the last game they played at Mirpur against the West Indies in December 2012.
Tamim’s unbeaten 88 in the match against the Caribbeans is the highest innings ever played by a Bangladesh batsman in this format. His unbroken 132-run second-wicket stand with Mahmudullah in that match is the highest Twenty20 partnership for Bangladesh.
‘Definitely, we will miss [Tamim] but at the same time if someone does get the chance hopefully he will do well,’ said Mushfiq.
Uncapped Soumya Sarker is likely to replace Tamim and, with beginner’s luck smiling on the Tigers, it might prove to be a profitable gamble.
Earlier, Shamsur Rahman made his debut in the second ODI and scored 96 runs in the third ODI – just his second game – to play a crucial role in the clean-sweep victory.
Mushfiq admitted that Bangladesh are yet to play to their potential in Twenty20 cricket and are looking forward to changing their fortunes.
‘We could not play to our potential in the Twenty20 format in the past.
‘But at the same time, we played good cricket throughout the series and that makes us confident for tomorrow’s match.
‘Winning or losing is something to be considered later, but we are in a good position,’ he said.
‘Personally, this is one of the best series so far, as we hardly played this kind of consistent cricket in the last two series, both in Test and ODI’s. So hopefully we can also complete the series well.
‘But tomorrows match is a big opportunity to learn where our strength lies and on which areas we need to work to do well in this format,’ he added.
-With New Age input
