Bangladesh will be looking to seal a record fourth straight T20I series when they take on New Zealand for the second match at Bay Oval in Maunt Maunganui tomorrow (Friday). The match starts at 12:10pm (Bangladesh Time).
Bangladesh lead the three-match series 1-0 following their five-wicket win in the first match. The victory helped them snap their nine-match losing streak in T20I format on New Zealand soil.
Earlier, Bangladesh swept T20I World Champions England in three-match series, beat Ireland by 2-1 and crushed Afghanistan by 2-0 for their three series victory in a row in T20I format.
If they can win the series against New Zealand, they will end the year without losing any series in this format for the first time in their history.
Bangladesh have the record of winning all series in ODI format at home in a calendar year but they haven't achieved the milestone of keeping them unbeaten in all series in any format, playing both at home and away.
"The victory in Napier will be a boost for us for the last two T20Is in Maunt Maunganui. The second and third T20I is indeed very important for us since we want to win this series," Bangladesh stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said.
The venue of the second and third T20I is expected to boost Bangladesh further. It's the venue where they got their landmark Test victory against New Zealand last year. Before that Test victory, Bangladesh lost all of their matches to Kiwis at their own den in all format of cricket.
The Test victory was indeed prelude to snap their losing streak in ODI and T20I format too.
"The boys are very confident. But we should guard against the complacency and plan for the next two matches. I hope everyone will be alert in doing their job perfectly," Shanto remarked.
The victory in the first match didn't come with ease despite restricting New Zealand to paltry 134-9. Being sent to bat first, the Kiwis slumped to one for three, for their worst start in this format.
Shoriful Islam led the charge with 3-26 while Mustafizur Rahman and Mahedi Hasan played second fiddle to him with 2-15 and 2-14 respectively. Bangladesh raced to the victory in 18.5 over with Liton Das hitting 36 ball-42 not out.
The Tigers lost wickets in cluster and at regular intervals, which made them five down for 97 runs in 15th over. Bangladesh looked to be in troublesome situation but Liton and Mahedi hit flurry of boundaries to help the side race to the victory.
Shanto said chasing a target in this condition against a team like New Zealand in always challenging but he hoped the players would back them to complete their job.
Overall the two teams played 18 matches in this format, with New Zealand winning 14 and Bangladesh just four.
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain (Captain), Liton Das, Rony Talukdar, Tawhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vice captain), Shak Mahedi, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Tanzim Hasan
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (capt), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee