The Tigers lost the toss and were sent to bat by the Kiwis today in the third match of the T20I tri-series in Christchurch, New Zealand. This series is the last buildup for the teams ahead of the T20 World Cup which begins in Australia on October 16. Bangladesh made three changes to their XI as they look to rebound in the series. Shakib Al Hasan, regular captain of Bangladesh, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shoriful Islam returned. Sabbir Rahman, Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman were dropped. New Zealand made one change, bringing in Adam Milne for Blair Tickner. In the first match of the competition, Bangladesh lost to Pakistan by 21 runs. Also, Pakistan beat New Zealand six wickets in the second match. So, the Tigers and the Kiwis are looking for their first points in the series. Read: Will Bangladesh’s brand of T20 cricket work in New Zealand? New Zealand Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (capt), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Michael Bracewell, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Adam Milne Bangladesh Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Yasir Ali, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam  

Aiming to bounce back in the Tri-Series, Bangladesh is set to take on the hosts New Zealand on Sunday.  The match will begin at 12 pm (Bangladesh Time) in Christchurch. In the first match of the competition, Bangladesh lost to Pakistan by 21 runs.  Shakib Al Hasan, the regular captain of Bangladesh, is also set to make a comeback in Sunday’s match. He couldn't play the first match due to jet lag— he joined the national team on Thursday after taking part in CPL in the West Indies.  It was learnt that Shakib couldn't buy an air ticket to New Zealand in time due to heavy demand, and eventually, it made him unable to take part in the first match of the event.  After the defeat in the first match, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Bangladesh’s stand-in captain, said they have to improve in certain areas to do well in T20Is. Read: Will Bangladesh’s brand of T20 cricket work in New Zealand? Bangladesh might bring a change in the opening slots. Sabbir Rahman, who was playing as an experimental opener, has failed to justify his inclusion. But the other opener, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who is also in an experimental phase, has done well so far.  Mustafizur Rahman might also lose his place in the playing XI. He conceded 48 runs in his stipulated four overs in the last match, without taking any wickets. On Saturday, New Zealand took on Pakistan and lost the match by six wickets. Pakistan chased down a target of 148 with 10 balls to play.  After playing this Tri-Series, all the participating teams will fly to Australia to take part in the T20 World Cup. All these three teams have secured their places in the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup.

With Liton Das’s imperious ton at Christchurch, his second in career, Bangladesh ended the New Zealand series with a draw 1-1 on Tuesday. Despite his century, Bangladesh lost the second Test in Christchurch by an innings and 117 runs within the third day of the match. It has been Bangladesh’s best Test result against New Zealand so far. Before this series, Bangladesh played a total of 32 international matches in New Zealand but failed to win any of them. But in the first Test, Bangladesh managed to beat the Kiwis by eight wickets and created history. “It was a dream to win a Test abroad against a big team,” Mominul Haque, Bangladesh captain told after the match. “It was so important for us to register the first win. We will also win series abroad in future. We now have that important belief. It was the biggest positive side of this series. But we have many things to do.” Also read: Ashwell Prince laments Tigers' batting collapse in Christchurch Bangladesh, however, failed to continue on a good run in the second Test when they had to endure a defeat by an innings and 117 runs. In the first innings of the match, New Zealand had posted a massive total of 521 for six and declared the innings. Tom Latham, the New Zealand captain hit a double-ton while Devon Conway registered this second century of the series as well. In reply, Bangladesh tumbled for 126 in the first innings with the highest score of 55 by Yasir Ali who was playing only his third Test. Trent Boult bagged five wickets for the hosts— his ninth five-fors in Tests so far. “It was disappointing that we failed to bat well in the first innings of the second Test,” Mominul said. “Our bowling in this match was also below our standard. Shohan (Nurul Haque), and Yasir (Ali) did well in the first innings, and in the second innings, Liton was outstanding.” The hosts enforced a follow on, and in the second innings, Bangladesh ended up on 278 all out. They came up with a better response, but it was too late from the Bangladeshi batters. Liton came to bat at five and posted 102 for 114 balls— his second ton in Test career. His first Test hundred came against Pakistan in the previous series at home— which was Bangladesh’s first series in the new cycle of the World Test Championship. The second Test of the series was the last Test of New Zealand legend Ross Taylor. The batter ended up his red-ball journey with the wicket of Ebadot Hossain. Latham took a great catch to remove Ebadot, and in his last ball of the career, Taylor got his farewell gift from Ebadot. Also read: New Zealand take giant stride as Bangladesh suffer batting collapse While leaving the field for the final time, Taylor got applauded by his teammates, opposition, and the crowd. Taylor ended his Test career as one of the best batters that New Zealand has ever produced. He helped the Blackcaps won the last year’s World Test Championship final against India. He saw many ups in his career with little downs. Bangladesh team will now travel back home and start preparing for the upcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which is set to begin on January 21 in Dhaka. This year BPL is scheduled to be played at three venues in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet. However, the official schedule is yet to be revealed.

It was inevitable that the Kiwis would post a massive first-innings total after Tom Latham and Devon Conway added more than 200 runs in the second-wicket stand, and it happened. But Bangladesh's batting lineup failed to deliver Monday, on the second day of the Christchurch Test.  Replying to New Zealand’s first innings total of 521/6 declared, Bangladesh tumbled for only 126, with all of the top five batters failing to reach double figures.  A 60-run stand by Yasir Ali and Nurul Hasan Shohan rescued the Tigers from an even worse fate. Along the process, Yasir registered his maiden fifty in Tests while Shohan got 41.  Also reda: Top Five Memorable Individual Knocks of BPL History “At tea time, we identified the pitch was quite good for batting. There was value for shots off the surface. The outfield was nice. If we could hang in a little bit, we could get a partnership going,” Bangladesh batting coach Ashwell Prince said at the end of the day’s play.  “The movement happened a bit quicker off the surface today. I was comfortable thinking some of the balls would go past the outside edge. It is normal for these conditions,” he added.  With 49 more overs to play in the day, New Zealand declared unexpectedly, and it seemed that the visitors were not prepared mentally to start batting at that point of the match. It was reflected in their performance when all of the top-five batters returned to the dressing room early.  “Of course, we are disappointed (about the lean show by the top five). It was a massive effort last week. We played 173 overs against a quality bowling attack. I think it is fair to say that we expected New Zealand to come back with a lot more urgency in this game. If you compare the two games, you can see that it is really difficult to fight your way back, even if you are the No 1 team,” Prince also said.  Also read: New Zealand take giant stride as Bangladesh suffered batting collapse For New Zealand, Trent Boult was tremendous with the ball taking five wickets— his nine five-fors in Tests so far. Along the way, he completed 300 wickets in the format.  At the end of day two, Bangladesh are behind by 395 runs— a huge task they have ahead. It’s not clear if New Zealand would enforce a follow-on. It will only be known on the third day morning. 

New Zealand completed a 3-0 sweep of the three-match series against Bangladesh Friday after winning the third ODI by 164 runs. Maiden centuries of Devon Conway and all-rounder Daryl Mitchell lifted New Zealand to the victory. The Kiwis won the toss and chose to bat first. They made 318 runs as Conway scored 126, and shared a 159-run partnership with all-rounder Mitchell. Also read: Ross Taylor to play the final ODI vs Bangladesh The all-rounder, whose previous highest ODI score was 12 runs, took 17 runs from the 50th over to complete his 100 in 92 balls. In reply, Bangladesh were bundled out for 154 despite an unbeaten 73-ball 76 of Mahmudullah Riyad. Matt Henry ripped through the Bangladesh top order, taking 3-13 from his first four overs. Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal departed early while chasing a huge target, forcing the visitors to go for a defensive game plan. But it proved to be a bad idea for them as Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das also fell to Henry in quick succession. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mithun played 69 balls together, Bangladesh's biggest partnership in terms of facing most balls, but failed to put any pressure on the hosts' bowling lineup. The Tigers lost seven wickets before posting 100 runs on the board. But Mahmudullah put his best foot forward to offer some resistance which lasted till the removal of Mustafizur Rahman as the last wicket from a fine delivery off James Neesham. Also read: Sloppy fielding costs Bangladesh series to New Zealand Neesham registered returned his career-best ODI figure of 5-27 for New Zealand. Henry took four wickets conceding 27 runs in 10 overs and the remaining wicket went to Kyle Jamieson. Earlier, the visitors failed to find a good rhythm in bowling as Mustafizur struggled throughout the innings to get some movement or swing. The other bowlers also remained clueless in one of the biggest cricket grounds of New Zealand. Mustafizur gave away 87 runs in 10 overs – taking only one wicket – his second-worst bowling in ODIs. Bangladesh got the first breakthrough when Taskin Ahmed removed Henry Nicholls for 18. Next, Rubel Hossain dismissed Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor in quick succession. But New Zealand captain Tom Latham and Conway added 63 runs in the fourth wicket stand and repaired the early damage. Soumya Sarkar broke the partnership by removing Latham.  The visitors were in control of the game as the hosts lost four wickets for 120 runs. But Conway and Mitchell added 159 runs in the fifth wicket stand, enabling New Zealand to pass the 300-run mark. In the last 10 overs, New Zealand added 107 runs, and Mustafizur conceded 43 of those runs. He gave away 21 runs in the last overs.   Eventually, Bangladesh failed to chase down a huge target of 319 and lost the game by 164 runs, which is their first defeat by a margin of 150 runs or more after 2017. Bangladesh's last defeat by a margin of 150 runs or more before this game came against South Africa in 2017. With a clean sweep over the Tigers, the hosts grabbed a full 30 points in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League series. Earlier, they had registered two convincing victories in the first two games in Dunedin and Christchurch. The Tigers will now face the hosts in a three-match T20 series – slated to start on March 28 in Hamilton. The last two games of the series will be played on March 30 and April 1 in Napier and Auckland. Also read: Bangladesh vs New Zealand T20 Series 2021: Who can replace Tamim in the opening slot?

The Tigers are looking forward to starting outdoor practice at Christchurch ahead of the three-match ODI and three-match T20 series against the hosts from March 20.

A national memorial in New Zealand to commemorate the 51 people who were killed when a gunman attacked two mosques one year ago has been canceled due to concern over the new coronavirus.