Bangladesh to host Kiwis for 5 T20Is

Bangladesh Cricket Board on Wednesday confirmed the itineraries for the five-match T20I home series against New Zealand. The Kiwis are scheduled to reach Dhaka on August 24 and play the games between behind closed doors between September 1 and September 10.

“The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced the itinerary for New Zealand’s 2021 tour. The Black Caps will arrive in Dhaka on 24 August to play five T20 internationals against the home side. All the matches will be taking place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium,” said the BCB statement. Bangladesh will play the five matches against New Zealand on September 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10. The visitors as per the schedule are to play a warm-up game ahead of the series at BKSP, Savar on August 29. The timings for the matches are yet to confirmed. Bangladesh are currently hosting Australia, also for a five-match series. Hosts Bangladesh had a winning start to the series defeating the tourists by 23 runs in the first game at SBNS on Tuesday. The two teams will lock horns in the second game of the series on Wednesday evening at the same venue.

Both the series, against Australia and New Zealand, are part of the preparation heading to the ICC T20 World Cup. The world event is scheduled to take place in October-November in UAE and Oman. The event was originally to take place in India but the Covid-19 situation in the country forced Board for Control of Cricket in India [BCCI] to look for venues in another country. Bangladesh were also scheduled to host England for a three-match ODI series which is part of the ICC Men’s World Cup Super League and also three-T20Is in September. The series got pushed to year 2023. Between then and now, New Zealand have hosted Bangladesh twice - for a full tour in 2016 and a limited-overs series in 2021. In their most recent outing across March and April, New Zealand whitewashed the visitors in both the ODIs and the T20Is.

NZ tour of Bangladesh schedule

New Zealand's arrival - August 24

Warm-up T20 - August 29

1st T20I - September 1

2nd T20I - September 3

3rd T20I - September 5

4th T20I - September 8

5th T20I - September 10