Tigers leave for New Zealand tour

Bangladesh Cricket team left on Tuesday afternoon for New Zealand for their first foreign tour in the Covid-19 era.

The Tigers will play a three-match ODI series, which is the part of ICC ODI Super League and as many T20 Internationals there.

A 20-team Bangladesh squad along with their support staff boarded a Singapore Airlines flight at 4:00pm at the Hazrat Shahjalal International airport in the capital.

This will be national cricket team’s first tour to New Zealand since the Christchurch attack in a mosque in March 2019, where the Tigers narrowly escaped the mass shooting.

The tour was then abandoned as the Tigers returned home keeping the third and final Test of the series unfinished.

A security official will accompany the team this time around.

Bangladesh will be placed in a strict quarantine upon their arrival to New Zealand. However in this period, Bangladesh team members were put into bi-bubble as they played two domestic tournaments and an International series against West Indies.

The Tigers’ record against New Zealand is abysmal as they are yet to register any victory over the Kiwis on their den. Bangladesh played nine Tests, 13 ODIs and four T20 Internationals on New Zealand soil but failed to win any match.

Bangladesh will be without the service of Shakib Al Hasan who skipped the tour due to be with his wife as they are expecting their third child.

The national cricket team however is touring the New Zealand on the back of their 0-2 whitewash at the hands of a depleted West Indies side, missing majority of their first choice players.

Bangladesh will play the first ODI against New Zealand on March 20 at University of Otago in Dunedin. The second ODI is on March 23 at Hagley Oval in Christchurch and the third ODI is at Basin Reserve in Wellington on March 26. The first and third ODI will start at 4 AM Bangladesh Time and the second one will begin at Bangladesh Time 7 AM.

The first T20 of the series will be held at Seddon Park, Hamilton on March 28 and starts at 7 AM Bangladesh time. The second ODI is at McLean Park, Napier on March 30 while the third T20 is at Eden Park, Auckland on April 1. The second and third T20 start at 12pm Bangladesh time.-BSS