Wily customer: Santner would pose a threat to Bangladesh with his tricks both as captain and as a spinner.
| Photo Credit: AFP
New Zealand and Bangladesh go into Monday’s Champions Trophy fixture with contrasting fortunes. While New Zealand will be hoping to keep its momentum going and ensure a spot in the semifinals, for Bangladesh, which went down to India in the opener, it will be about returning to winning ways and staying in the hunt.
With the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium likely to aid the batters, with a bit of help for fast bowlers early on, New Zealand will bank on Tom Latham and Will Young, who scored centuries in the campaign starter against Pakistan to get going, while there’s no clarity over the availability of Rachin Ravindra, who was struck by the ball on his forehead during the tri-series earlier this month.
Having beaten Pakistan at home earlier in the week and remaining unbeaten in the tri-series, New Zealand is a confident unit, and with enough depth in batting, it will be starting as a favourite.
Boom or bust
However, it’s a fight for survival for Bangladesh. Despite Towhid Hridoy scoring a century against India, none of the top batters could show resilience and against a bowling department led by Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke and captain Mitchell Santner, it will be a challenge for the Bangladesh batters to rise to the occasion.
Mahmudullah Riyad, who missed out against India with a hamstring niggle, is likely to return, bolstering the team’s batting unit. However, it will be important for the top-order to fire in a must-win outing. In terms of bowling, Bangladesh had a decent outing against India with Taskin Ahmed, Rishad Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz putting up a spirited show. But it would be interesting to see whether the team management unleashes young fast bowler Nahid Rana on the New Zealand batters. The Kiwis haven’t played Rana before, so he could bring in a surprise element.
Match starts at 2.30 p.m. IST.
Published – February 24, 2025 06:23 pm IST