A chance to rewrite Boxing Day

Nine years ago to the day, Bangladesh were getting ready for the first ODI on their tour of New Zealand which took place at Eden Park in Auckland. The Tigers were enjoying a good run by their standards at that point of time.

They had done well in the World Cup and then were relatively competitive against India and Sri Lanka in the following series.

And so it was a confident side that went into Eden Park on December 26, 2007. They did relatively well with Tamim Iqbal scoring 50 off 66 balls, Mohammad Ashraful hitting a beautiful 57-ball 70 and although they went on to post 201, New Zealand ran out comfortable winners in 42.4 overs with six wickets in hand.

In a sense, the above result reflects Bangladesh's disappointing run in New Zealand. There have been a few decent knocks for Bangladesh's players down under, but they have never managed to cross the line.

Away from home, Bangladesh have lost all seven of their ODIs and five Tests against New Zealand. The last time they played a bilateral series in New Zealand was back in 2010 when they lost the ODIs 3-0 and the Test series 1-0.

Nine years on, Bangladesh will be hoping they can improve the numbers. They are arguably at their peak and with Mustafizur Rahman up and running, they could not have asked for a better time to tour New Zealand.

The fact that a number of Bangladeshis have recorded their best numbers against New Zealand will only embolden them further.

Take for instance Mominul Haque. The left-hander averages a staggering 188 in two Tests against New Zealand and he has two centuries, including his highest score of 181, against them.

All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan's best bowling figures in a Test innings, seven for 36, was recorded against the Kiwis. Rubel Hossain has a hattrick against New Zealand in ODIs and has recorded figures of six for 26 against the Kiwis.

Mahmudullah Riyad has a century against the Kiwis in New Zealand and he will also be aware of the fact that just a year ago he had scored two centuries in the ICC World Cup that took place in Australia and New Zealand.

Nine years ago, Bangladesh's fans were at ease with the defeat to the Kiwis. After all, they had seen two of their batsmen score amazing half-centuries and back then that was satisfying enough.

Today, as Bangladesh reach Christchurch -- the venue for the first ODI -- everybody will know too well that a mere fight will not be enough to satisfy Bangladesh's fans. It is going to be a very difficult task to improve Bangladesh's numbers in New Zealand, but then again they way the Tigers have been acing improbable tasks in the past two years, nothing seems unlikely at the moment.