Mushy wants to overcome ‘high-scoring’ challenge in NZ

Bangladesh were whitewashed in the ODI series and the Test series during their last tour of New Zealand, despite some good performances from key players. While that tour ended somewhat disappointingly, the performances will give impetus to the Tigers this time around, insisted Mushfiqur Rahim.

The Kiwis are in fantastic vein of form in all formats at the moment while the Tigers will see a vast change in conditions after playing the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ahead of the series. The surface here did not lend itself to high-scoring games but the New Zealand series and the World Cup will see many runs. Mushy wanted to overcome this challenge in New Zealand in preparation for the World Cup.

"Obviously, if you look at the last two ODIs there, I think we were close and should have won the two matches. The match in Nelson and the one later in Christchurch was a high-scoring matches but I think if me or Mosaddek could have carried on a bit more then you never know," he opined when asked if Tigers are now a team to challenge New Zealand away.

The New Zealand tour will be key to gauge Bangladesh's performance as they begin set their focus for the World Cup. Mushfiqur believes that the surfaces in England will see high-scoring matches and Bangladesh need to overcome specific challenges. New Zealand will prove to be good preparation.

"It will obviously be a good preparation for the World Cup where there will be a lot of high-scoring matches. It will be a big challenge for us and if we are able to overcome in the ODI series then it will be a plus point for us," he concluded.