New Zealand easily defeated BangladeshImage Credit source: BCB
The condition of Bangladesh cricket team is also not improving. The situation has become such that now they are losing ODI matches at home, that too against a team whose key players are not even available to play. Despite the absence of many big players due to T20 leagues like IPL 2026 and PSL 2026, New Zealand defeated Bangladesh by 26 runs in the first ODI. In this match played in Mirpur, Bangladesh could not even achieve the target of 248 runs.
New Zealand could not score big
In the first match of this three-match ODI series, the team will be captained by Tom Latham. New Zealand Scored 247 runs losing 8 wickets in 50 overs. For that, experienced opener Henry Nicholls scored the highest score of 68 runs, while middle order batsman Dean Foxcroft, playing his second ODI match, played a quick inning of 59 runs. This was his first half-century. However, Captain Latham could score only 14 runs.
Kiwi fast bowlers terrorized
Without bowlers like Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Mitchell Santner, it was considered difficult for New Zealand to defend this score. But Nathan Smith and Blair Tickner destroyed any such thinking. Especially Nathan Smith played a big role in this, in front of whom Bangladesh’s top order disintegrated. The team had lost two wickets for only 21 runs.
In such a situation, Saif Hasan and Liton Das gave hope to Bangladesh by making a partnership of 93 runs, while Tauheed Hridoy also scored a half-century. But as soon as he was out, the entire team collapsed for 221 runs. Smith took 3 wickets and Tickner took 4 wickets. Foxcroft also achieved a success.
Danger looming over Bangladesh
With this, New Zealand has taken a 1-0 lead in the series. Now Bangladesh is in danger of losing the ODI series at home. Bangladesh has lost only 2 ODI series at home in the last 10 years and both times it was defeated by England. In such a situation, if he wants to continue his strong record then he will have to win the next match at any cost.
