As of early last year, the Bay Oval in the city of Mount Maunganui had firmly established itself as a momentous occasion in the annals of Bangladesh cricket, having served as the venue for the Tigers’ inaugural Test triumph against New Zealand.
Almost two years after that momentous victory, the Bangladesh Twenty20 team, led by Najmul Hossain Shanto, has a chance to reach another landmark – a series victory in any format in New Zealand – at the same venue that hosts both today’s match and Sunday’s third and final match of the series.
The match that is slated to commence at 12:10 pm (Bangladesh time) today will be broadcast on both Green TV and Nagorik TV.
The first match of the series was won by Bangladesh by five wickets in Napier on Wednesday. With the victory, the visitors ended the Black Caps’ nine-match losing stretch in Twenty20s in New Zealand and recorded victories in all formats.
On December 23, earlier in the tour, they defeated the hosts by nine wickets in the third and final ODI of the series in Napier, breaking a 19-match losing streak against the same opponents at their habitat. The bowlers contributed to both of Bangladesh’s victories by dispatching the hosts for a meager 98 in the ODI and 134 for nine in the Twenty20I.
At this juncture, the Bangladesh cricket team, which has been underwhelmed this year due to the absences of veteran opener Tamim Iqbal, regular captain Shakib Al Hasan, and pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed, stands at a chance to achieve something unprecedented and inject some cheer into the nation’s men’s cricket season.