Bangladesh's chance to down NZ
In the absence of the first-choice players, who are away at the IPL or PSL, New Zealand have arrived in Bangladesh with one of their most inexperienced sides. For the first ODI in Dhaka, the visitors will be without eight players who were in the New Zealand XI in the third ODI against India in January this year.
New Zealand coach Rob Walter sees this Bangladesh tour as an opportunity to expose their fringe players to international pressure. Muhammad Abbas, Adi Ashok, Blair Tickner and Dean Foxcroft are among those fringe players. There's also left-arm fingerspinner Jayden Lennox who impressed in his debut series in India. He will be expected to play a bigger role in Bangladesh. Tom Latham, Will Young and Henry Nicholls are the familiar faces in a new-look side.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, have a few things working in their favour, apart from playing at home. They defeated Pakistan 2-1 last month after fighting hard in the decider. Tanzid Hasan, the opener, starred with the bat, while Nahid Rana and Taskin Ahmed made match-winning contributions too. They, however, have a middle-order problem: Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Afif Hossain don't have role clarity while Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hossain Shanto are in need of substantial scores too.
Taskin, Rana and Mustafizur Rahman, though, provide Bangladesh's attack with a potent point of difference. Rishad Hossain has also been effective, adding more vaiety to Bangladesh's attack with his wristspin. How New Zealand tackle pace, spin and heat on Friday, will be a window into how the rest of the white-ball tour goes for the visitors.
Form guide
Bangladesh WLWWL (completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WWLWW
In the spotlight: Najmul Hossain Shanto & Tom Latham
Najmul Hossain Shanto will be expected to address the recent slide in his ODI career graph. His 992 runs in 2023 was the highest in a calendar year by a Bangladesh batter in 17 years. He followed it up by averaging 71.5 in 2024, but he has just a single half-century since 2025. Recently, he made only 54 runs in three innings against Pakistan. Bangladesh see Shanto as a long-term leader, so the onus is on him to step up.
Tom Latham has a chance to regain his form in ODIs after an indifferent period. He hasn't reached a half-century since the Champions Trophy, with his top score in his last nine innings being an unbeaten 39 against the West Indies in Napier. He missed the ODIs against India earlier this year, but now returns as captain of another inexperienced line-up in Bangladesh. He has done this temporary job against the same opponents before, with an ODI revival this time in the offing.
Team news: NZ set to ring in the changes
Bangladesh could field the same XI that beat Pakistan 2-1 in the ODI series last month. That will likely leave out Mahidul Islam, Shoriful Islam and Tanvir Islam.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Saif Hassan, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Towhid Hridoy, 4 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 5 Litton Das (wk), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz (c), 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Nahid Rana, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
New Zealand will make at least eight changes since their previous ODI. If Latham keeps wicket, they might have room for three seam-bowling allrounders in Josh Clarkson, Nathan Smith and Abbas
New Zealand (probable): 1 Henry Nicholls, 2 Will Young, 3 Nick Kelly, 4 Dean Foxcroft, 5 Tom Latham (capt & wk), 6 Muhammad Abbas, 7 Josh Clarkson, 8 Nathan Smith, 9 Blair Tickner, 10 Will O'Rourke, 11 Jayden Lennox
Pitch and conditions: Early start, heatwave in the offing
There is speculation around the home team's choice of pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium: will it be faster and bouncier like the Pakistan series in March, or the usual slow-and-low one? The 11am start, with the heatwave around, could causedryness in the surfaces. There is also forecast for a thunderstorm on Friday.
Stats and Trivia
New Zealand haven't won the first match of an ODI series in Bangladesh since 2004. They lost the corresponding matches in 2008, 2010 and 2013, while the 2023 opener was a washout.
Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz requires another 209 runs to become the second Bangladeshi cricketer to reach 2,000 runs to go with 100-plus wickets in ODIs.
Rubel Hossain, who retired from international cricket earlier this week, is the only bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs between Bangladesh and New Zealand.
