Bangladesh had contrasting fortunes in the first two matches of the ongoing World Cup but they are keen to move forward and clinch a positive result against in-form New Zealand in their third match of the tournament on Friday.
The match will commence at 2:30 pm Bangladesh standard time at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Bangladesh won their first match against Afghanistan by six wickets thanks to spinners but they conceded a heavy 137-run defeat against England that must have dented their confidence.
On the other hand, New Zealand, the finalists of the two previous editions, are in high flying mood as they decimated defending champions England in the first match before picking up an easy victory against Netherlands.
Bangladesh may feel a bit confident, however, as the venue is known to support spinners. Indian spinners contained Australia for only 199 to show it once again.
However, unlike a non-sub-continent team New Zealand have few good spinners in the likes of Ish Sodhi, Glenn Philips and Rachin Ravindra while their batters are capable of handling quality spinners well.
With power hitting capacity throughout the batting order and fearsome pace bowling New Zealand are one of the contenders in the tournament and Bangladesh will face an uphill battle.
Their pacers more or less struggled in both the matches although Shoriful Islam showcased good varieties of pace to restrict England in the final overs but others now need to step up. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who was the hero in the first match, struggled against powerful batters of England and he will need to do well along with skipper Shakib al Hasan.
But mostly the concern is with batters. Bangladeshi batters struggled in recent times and that continued in the tournament.
Najmul Hossain, who scored a first-ball duck against England, came to the pre-match press conference and said, however, they are not very worried ahead of the game.
“The tournament started well for us but we did not play well against England. However, we are not very worried. We are looking forward to the New Zealand game. We are hoping to do well,” said Najmul.
He also mentioned the fact that the wicket helped spinners during the India-Australia game but the batter said they are not worried about the pitch.
“The wickets in most of the matches look good. If the wicket is good, we may score 300-320.
Bangladesh dropped Mahmudullah in the second match to include Mahedi Hasan, who got four wickets despite being expensive, but it will be interesting to see whom they select for this match. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed is there to strengthen spin attack but that may weaken the batting a little bit.
Bangladesh have been struggling in the top order. Experienced Tamim Iqbal was axed and the newcomer Tanzid Hassan has been struggling.
However, Litton Das seemed to come back in form with a swashbuckling knock against England.
“I think he has already played 5 to 6 matches. I think some players need less time while some need more to be settled down. Everyone should keep faith in him. Let everyone support him. Everyone came here to play the World Cup by proving themselves. I hope he will do well from the next match.,” said Najmul about young Tanzid.