Bangladesh’s spinners will be challenging
New Zealand’s acting Captain Tom Latham believes it will be challenging to handle the home spinners in the limited-over’s series in Bangladesh.
Ahead of the three-match ODI and T20I series in Bangladesh, Latham said, “The Bangladesh team has many experienced and quality spinners. The opponent’s spin will be a big threat for us on this tour. It will be challenging to handle the home spinners.”
Bangladesh have a history of creating spin-friendly wickets in the past, trapping the visitors. In the last ODI series against Pakistan last month, the Tigers instead built a sporting wicket. But Latham did not forget his past experience on Bangladeshi soil. The New Zealand Captain is cautious about Bangladeshi spinners.
“Spin plays a big role in any international match on Bangladeshi soil. Past records say so. This time too, Bangladeshi spinners will be a big threat to us. We are ready to handle any situation. Our team has the ability to adapt to any situation depending on the playing conditions and the possible type of wicket,” He said.
Latham also said, “It is very important to be prepared to play in Bangladesh or anywhere else. If you can adapt to the playing conditions quickly, there is not much problem. Hopefully, we will be able to do everything well on this tour of Bangladesh.”
New Zealand will play the series against Bangladesh with a second-row team. Latham calls such a team balanced even if the top-row players are not in the team.
He said, “This team is different from the previous teams. But it’s not that they don’t have experience. Most of the players have played more or less matches in international cricket.
They have experience playing especially in ODIs and T20Is. Hopefully, that experience will come in handy in this series.”
New Zealand will begin their tour of Bangladesh with ODI series. The first two ODIs of the tour will be held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on April 17 and 20. The two teams will play the third and final ODI of the series on April 23 at the Shaheed Bir Shrestha Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Stadium in Chattogram.
The first two matches of the T20I series will be played in Chattogram on April 27 and 29 and the third and final match will be played in Dhaka on May 2.
