Big picture
After blowing away Bangladesh in the first ODI in Dunedin, New Zealand can press forward to pick up the series win in Christchurch. It is the first men's day-night match at the Hagley Oval, which has often presented a rock-hard pitch that has traditionally aided fast bowling and confident strokeplay.
New Zealand were superior to Bangladesh in almost every area in Dunedin. Trent Boult led a superb opening spell, with Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Jimmy Neesham providing timely breakthroughs throughout the innings. The start provided by Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls thereafter shortened an already tiny chase.
It wasn't all doom and gloom from the visitors, though. Tamim Iqbal played some shots that reminded of his ability to fight back in the most difficult of circumstances, and the likes of Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah also provided glimpses of their ability. With the ball, Taskin Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan bowled with a mix of attack and control that could come in handy if they are defending a bigger total.
Certainly, Bangladesh have to bat big to have any chance of leveling the series in Christchurch. For that, a lot will depend on how well Iqbal and Das tackle the new ball, before the likes of Rahim and Mahmudullah take them deeper into the game. From a bowling perspective too, Mustafizur Rahman has to act as the senior bowler, by bowling a lethal spell with the new ball.
Otherwise, we could be in for another quick finish.
Form guide
(completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WLWWW Bangladesh LWWWW
In the spotlight
If Trent Boult has another couple of spells where he makes the new ball hoop around as madly as he did in Dunedin, we might have a short ODI series in our hands. The four-wicket haul was just reward for his immaculate lengths, but more important was how that pushed Bangladesh into a defensive mindset for the rest of their innings.
At the start of 2020, Liton Das had vowed to become a tighter batsman but in his last four ODIs, he has scored only 55 runs. He once again got out to a soft dismissal in Dunedin, after working quite hard for almost an hour against a quality pace attack. Bangladesh could really do with some runs at the top from Das if they are to level the series.
Team news
New Zealand are unlikely to break their winning combination after Ross Taylor was ruled out of the second ODI too, due to an injured hamstring.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Henry Nicholls, 3 Devon Conway, 4 Will Young, 5 Tom Latham (capt & wk), 6 James Neesham, 7 Daryl Mitchell, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Trent Boult
Mohammad Saifuddin could replace Hasan Mahmud, but it seems the rest of the line-up may survive any chop as Bangladesh look to bat deep and have at least six bowling options.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Liton Das, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) 5 Mohammad Mithun, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Hasan Mahmud
Pitch and conditions
New Zealand and Bangladesh can look to two previous first-innings scores of 289 for 7 (Northern Districts) and 178 all out (New Zealand Women) in day-night matches at the Hagley Oval, with both teams losing. The weather is expected to be a nice and dry 18 degrees celsius in Christchurch.
Stats and trivia
New Zealand have lost only one out of the ten ODIs that they have played at the Hagley Oval.
Bangladesh were bowled out for a total below 150 for the first time since September 2018 in Dunedin.
Quotes
"We played really well in the first game. It is always nice to start with the intensity in our bowling performance. We really made a statement with the way we started with the bat. We hope to continue that but also expect Bangladesh will bounce back considerably." - New Zealand coach Gary Stead.
"We just never got any momentum because we kept losing wickets (in the first ODI). A lot of soft dismissals as well, let's be honest. We're hoping the batters learned from that with the bouncing ball." - Bangladesh fast-bowling coach Ottis Gibson.
