New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to bowl first. Bangladesh also met the similar fortune in their World Cup opener against South Africa at the same venue. 

Both of Bangladesh and New Zealand are playing their unchanged XI from their first matches. While Bangladesh won their first encounter against South Africa, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets. 

Williamson said they are willing to bowl first because of the new wicket which can offer some good time for the pace bowlers. 

“We are going to bowl first. It is a fresh surface and we would like to see if we can get something out of it,” Williamson said to the broadcaster. 

“It was a good performance (in the first game) but we need to move on to the next opposition, next venue and prepare according to that. It is a new day. We need to get back to our plans and keep performing according to our abilities,” he added. 

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said he would have also chosen to bat first if he had won the toss. He also said it is their experienced bunch of guys who can win this game for the team as they did in the previous game. 

It is going to be a tough challenge for the batsmen of the Tigers as the wicket was under the cover for the last few days.

Bangladesh met New Zealand in World Cup four times earlier but failed to come out victorious in any of them. But this time around, the Tigers are equipped well to make a change in history. 

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Mustafizur Rahman

New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham(w), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.