Toss Bangladesh chose to bat vs New Zealand
Middle-order batter Zakir Hasan and top-order batter Dean Foxcroft were handed ODI debuts, and Bangladesh stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto opted to bat against New Zealand in the third ODI. For Shanto, too, it was a landmark occasion with the game being his first as ODI captain. The start of play, however, was delayed with rain arriving minutes before the prescribed start time of 2pm local.
Bangladesh made four changes with Litton Das, Tamim Iqbal and Mustafizur Rahman rested and Soumya Sarkar left out for the final ODI. Mushfiqur Rahim, Shanto, Shoriful Islam and the debutant Zakir came in. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who was added to the third ODI squad but suffered a hamstring strain in training, was not included.
For New Zealand, Foxcroft was one of the two changes. The right-hand batter who bowls handy offbreak replaced Chad Bowes, and Adam Milne replaced Kyle Jamieson.
“It looks like a dry wicket. If we put a good score, it will help our game,” Shanto said. New Zealand captain Lockie Ferguson wanted his bowlers to make use of the cloudy conditions in their pursuit of swing.
The Mirpur surface, the same as the second ODI, is expected to seam around early on, even offer extra bounce to pace bowlers, before giving way to spin-friendly conditions.
This is the last official ODI for both sides before the World Cup. After this, New Zealand fly to Hyderabad in India for a warm-up game against Pakistan, while Bangladesh head to Guwahati in north-east India for their warm-up against Sri Lanka.
New Zealand: 1 Finn Allen, 2 Will Young, 3 Dean Foxcroft, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Tom Blundell (wk), 6 Rachin Ravindra, 7 Cole McConchie, 8 Adam Milne, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Lockie Ferguson (capt), 11 Trent Boult
Bangladesh: 1 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Towhid Hridoy, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Zakir Hasan, 7 Mahedi Hasan, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Khaled Ahmed, 11 Shoriful Islam
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
