New Zealand vs Bangladesh – 1st T20 International Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is New Zealand vs Bangladesh taking place? Sunday, March 28th, 2021 – 02:00 (UK)
Where is New Zealand vs Bangladesh taking place? Seddon Park, Hamilton
What is the expected weather for New Zealand vs Bangladesh? 24c with sunshine and cloudy intervals forecast
What channel is New Zealand vs Bangladesh on? The match will be televised live on BT Sport 2
Where can I stream New Zealand vs Bangladesh? The match can be streamed live the BT Sport app and website
LAST MEETING
New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 27 runs
THE TEAM NEWS
NEW ZEALAND
- After comfortably beating Bangladesh in the Tests and One-Day series, New Zealand now move on to the T20 and they will be ultra confident of winning this opener after winning all seven of their previous meetings against the tourists in this format of the game.
- The hosts will be without a whole raft of regular starters as they are resting the likes of Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner and Tim Seifert but they will still have plenty of quality in their ranks.
- Tim Southee will lead the team after being rested for the one-day series while fringe players such as Todd Astle and Adam Milne will get rare starts but they still have the likes of Martin Guptill, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell and Ish Sodhi to count on.
BANGLADESH
- Bangladesh have struggled badly in the Test and One-Day series so far and the mood in the camp is not particularly good coming into this T20 against a strong home side who they have never beat in T20s.
- Skipper Tamim Iqbal has ruled himself out of these T20 matches so that weakens them even further and that will hand an opening to talented youngster Mohammad Naim who will open the innings with Liton Das.
- The rest of the team is expected to be the same as that which featured on the 50-over matches although Mohammad Saifuddin should get the nod over to come into the bowling attack as much for his batting as his bowling.
THE PREDICTION
New Zealand have thoroughly dominated Bangladesh throughout the different formats so far and they will be confident of doing the same in the T20s. They have won all seven of their previous meetings in this format and it is hard to make a case for the tourists even coming close. While the Blackcaps are without some key members of their squad, some of the talented players coming into the team like Finn Allen will be motivated to impress. They should simply have far too much quality for the visitors and while these games may be closer due to the format being shorter, New Zealand have to be favoured to get the victory.
