Led by Shakib Al Hassan, Tigers left Dhaka for Guwahati for their ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 mission on Wednesday.
When there are two weeks left to begin their World Cup campaign and the team have already left for India, the humiliating series defeat to Zealand is a great concern for the Tigers.
The series against New Zealand was also considered as the dress rehearsal ahead of the upcoming World Cup but Tigers cut a sorry figure, as they went down to visitors in two matches out of three.
The first match of the series was washed out after New Zealand playing 33.4 overs when visitors scored 136 runs for five wickets.
But in the rest of two matches, Bangladesh could not even give any fight against the visitors, specially, their batting were very much frustrating. In the second match of the series, New Zealand after winning the toss elected to bat first and scored 254 runs before being all out by 49.2 overs. But in reply, Bangladesh could manage only 168 runs in 41,1 overs to concede a huge 86 runs defeat.
Tigers bowlers though displayed a bit impressive performances with taking all the wickets by 49.2 overs in 50 overs match, batters presentation were more than horrible when they were bundled out only for 168 runs.
None of the batters but Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad failed to make any impact or could perform well considering their ability and status.
Tamim Iqbal, though was controversially ruled out from the World Cup squad concerning his full recovery from back injury was the second highest scorer in the second ODI with 44 runs featuring four elegant boundaries but did not play the last ODI match.
Mahmudullah Riyad was the highest scorer with 49 runs in the paltry 168 runs innings of Bangladesh, though it was not enough even to make the game a competitive.
Tamim Iqbal did not play in the third and last match of the series, when Bangladesh could not bounce back and suffer another embarrassing defeat to lose the series woefully by 2-0. In the last match of the series, Bangladesh decided to bat first and batters frustrated again with their dismal show when besides newly appointed captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto none could play even a 30 runs innings.
The Tigers batters failed to stand against the Black Caps bowling attacks when they could stay only for 34.3 overs and managed another paltry total 171 runs when Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who made his debut as captain was the top scorer with 76 runs off 84 balls.
Interestingly, Mahmudullah Riyad, one of the most experienced player, who made a comeback after a long time was the second highest scorer with 21, which was not at all enough to throw a challenge to New Zealand, as they comfortably chase the target by 34.5 overs.
The Tigers’ bowlers, who could take five wickets in the rain interrupted first match and impressed well after bowling out New Zealand for 254 runs, in the third match could take only three wickets.
However, now the Tamim issues surpassed the Tigers’ woeful performances before heading to India but their poor shows certainly a wakeup call ahead of the World Cup.
