New Zealand holds the distinguished status of being among only four other teams in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023 to have won both their opening matches. On the other hand, their opponents on Friday, Bangladesh have had mixed fortunes, winning one match and losing the other in their opening fixtures.
New Zealand has accumulated four points from their two wins with a net run rate (NRR) of +1.958. They sit pretty on second behind only South Africa, who are ahead on NRR. Bangladesh is on sixth position of the points table.
The two teams are set to take the field for the 11th match of the tournament today at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai.
Head To Head:
The two teams have faced off 41 times in One Day International (ODI) cricket with New Zealand winning on 30 occasions and Bangladesh taking 10 wins and one match ending without any result. The last match between the two was played on September 26 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. Bangladesh had scored 171 runs in 35 overs batting first, which was easily won by the Black Caps.
In World Cups, New Zealand and Bangladesh have played on five occasions against each other and the Black Caps won all of them. They had played each other in the 2019 edition. Bangladesh had scored 244 runs which was chased down by New Zealand in 48 overs.
Pitch Report:
The pitch at Chennai in the last match between India and Australia, supported the spinners as India picked six wickets through spin bowling. Batting on the surface is tricky and batters will have to exercise caution and first look to set themselves before playing shots. The average first innings score on the pitch is 224, while the average second innings score is 205.
Weather Report:
The weather conditions in Chennai are set to be humid with a 15 to 17 per cent chance of rain. As per Weather.com, the temperature is likely to soar as high as 31 degrees.
Match Prediction:
According to the win probability from Google, New Zealand has a 74 per cent chance of winning the match and Bangladesh has a 26 per cent. CricTracker has put its bet on a New Zealand win with the matter of who bats first not affecting that outcome. Khel Now has also sided with the Black Caps. Bangladesh is unlikely to cause an upset, however an exciting encounter awaits the fans.
