Bangladesh aim for T20 improvement

Match facts

November 6, 2013
Start time 1330 local (0730 GMT)

Big Picture

This is probably the best time for Bangladesh to begin fixing their horrible Twenty20 record. They have lost six of their last seven matches, and went down to teams like Netherlands and Scotland in recent times. A fast improving team in the ODI format, Bangladesh have not yet adapted to the game's shortest version.

New Zealand, on the other hand, are a skilled team in this format and could use it to end their tour of Bangladesh positively, after failing to win a Test and losing the ODIs 0-3. Led by Kyle Mills, they performed a little better in the final one-dayer, scoring 307 for 5 but were let down by the bowlers.

New Zealand are bolstered by Luke Ronchi in the middle order while Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham and Grant Elliott will be expected to pull weight as allrounders. Their pace attack has struggled and so has their solitary spinner in Nathan McCullum. The absence of more quality slow bowlers has been a weakness in these conditions.

Bangladesh are in a happy position. They won the ODI series after drawing the Tests and would love to mark their authority in all formats, something they have never done against a higher-ranked side.

Form guide

Bangladesh WLLLL (last five matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWTLW

Watch out for

Colin Munro made 85 in his first opportunity on this tour and justified his selection by dominating the spinners in the middle overs. He should be an automatic pick for the Twenty20 match.

Nasir Hossain is becoming Bangladesh's finisher in one-day cricket. He would like to do the same thing in Twenty20s but because of the batting order he hardly gets a decent hit in this format. He's a dangerous batsman in the end overs, and will keep New Zealand on their toes once again.

Team news

New Zealand found an opening combination that worked in the third ODI so they might use the same pair. The middle and lower order batted well too, so the changes might be in the bowling group. Mitchell McClenaghan may be rested, and Tim Southee may return.

New Zealand (likely): 1 Anton Devcich, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Grant Elliott, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Luke Ronchi (wk), 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Colin Munro, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Kyle Mills (capt), 11 Adam Milne

Tamim Iqbal has been ruled out with a stomach strain, which is likely to keep him out of action for two to four weeks.* Captain Mushfiqur hinted that Soumya Sarkar, the newcomer, could make his Twenty20 debut. It will however be tricky to find a spot for Ziaur Rahman, who is a good Twenty20 player. Al-Amin Hossain could get a look in ahead of Rubel Hossain, whose form in this format hasn't been up to the mark.

Bangladesh (likely): 1 Soumya Sarkar, 2 Shamsur Rahman, 3 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 4 Mominul Haque, 5 Naeem Islam, 6 Nasir Hossain, 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Sohag Gazi, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Mashrafe Mortaza, 11 Rubel Hossain/Al-Amin Hossain.

Stats and trivia

• Ross Taylor is 92 runs short of becoming the third New Zealand batsman to score 1000 Twenty20 international runs. Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill are the other two.
• Ziaur Rahman has the best economy rate - 6.16 - among Bangladesh bowlers who have played more than one T20 international game.

Pitch and conditions

Because the game will start at 1.30 pm local time, the Mirpur pitch will be at its best for the batsmen. The Dhaka weather has again been cloudy, though.

Quotes

"We need to keep playing the way we are. When you get a winning feeling, you have to keep that going. The Twenty20 is really important for now and the 2014 World Twenty20 because we don't have many matches of this format going into the tournament."
Bangladesh coach Shane Jurgensen.

"If we can win the Twenty20 and go to Sri Lanka with some momentum, it would be great for the team."
New Zealand allrounder Colin Munro.

*10.25GMT, November 5: The preview was updated after the latest on Tamim Iqbal came in