New Zealand cantered to a victory in the 1st ODI of the series against Bangladesh. Like we mentioned in our Fantasy preview of the 1st ODI, they have never lost to Bangladesh at home and they don’t seem to want to change that record. Now, the 2nd ODI is all set to be played in Christchurch on 16th February and the home team will be looking to wrap up the series early.
Flat wickets means that Bangladesh needs their bowlers to step up if they want to start seeing results on this tour. If the bowlers can’t get past the likes of Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in the top order, I’m not sure how they’re going to walk away with a single win on this tour. The 2nd ODI is being played at the Hagley Oval where only 13 ODIs have been played thus far.
Match info
- Tournament: Bangladesh tour of New Zealand 2019
- Date: 16th February 2019, 3:30am
- Venue: Hagley Oval, Christchurch
- Capacity: 18,000+
- Series status: New Zealand lead series 1-0
Form (recent first)
- New Zealand: W L W L L L
- Bangladesh: L W L W W W
Stats
- New Zealand have won 8 of their 9 ODIs at this ground, having lost the last one to England in March 2018.
- 300+ has been achieved here on 6 occasions, with Scotland’s 341/9 being the highest.
- Martin Guptill is the highest scorer here, with 283 runs in 6 games. Ross Taylor averages 112.5 here!
- The highest wicket taker at Hagley Oval is Trent Boult with 16 wickets in 7 ODIs.
New Zealand
So with Martin Guptill’s recent poor form against India and his history of not being too consistent, I would usually drop him from my fantasy team, but he showed determination to score on the slow pitch in the 1st ODI. To add to that, he is the highest scorer a this ground, so I’ll be picking him for sure. Remember, Taylor also deserves a spot in your team. He has shown fantastic form and scored 45* in the last game. Bat first and expect him to get a bigger score.
Leading wicket-taker here plus the fact that he picked up 3/40 in the 1st ODI, how do you leave Trent Boult out of your fantasy teams? He has got to be in it here too, while Matt Henry would be my second NZ bowling option, who also did well with 2/48 in the 1st ODI succeeding a 4-fer in the last game against India. At this ground too, he has 10 wickets in just 4 ODIs!
Bangladesh
So with Shakib al Hasan out of the squad, Bangladesh is looking for new heroes. On the all-rounder front, Mehedy Hasan would be that hero according to me. He picked up one of the two wickets to fall in the last game, coupled with an important 26(27) after Bangladesh lost their top order quickly. Use Mahmudullah and Mehedy Hasan as your all-rounders for this game, and probably through the series as well.
On the bowling front, everyone will be picking the experience of Mashrafe Mortaza. While heroes like Boult and Guptill are needed, take your chances with Bangladesh. Drop someone like Mortaza and pick up a cheaper option in Mohammad Saifuddin. Similarly, drop the very reliable Tamim Iqbal for someone like Mohammad Mithun or Sabbir Rahman. The openers are anyway going to find it tough to play off Boult and Henry. Pack your team with Bangladesh middle-order batsmen.
My fantasy eleven
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