New Zealand vs Bangladesh, 2nd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

After the crushing defeat in the opening T20 International, Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah had urged the team's youngsters to step up for a team that's missing the services of veterans Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim (shoulder injury). The visitors lost all three One-Day Internationals and were blown away in the opening T20I and are in desperate need of a win to salvage some pride.

Mahmudullah, however, would want to have a look at the performances of the experienced pros with two games remaining in the tour. Soumya Sarkar (0, 32, 1, 5), Liton Das (19, 0, 21, 4) and Mahmudullah (27, 16, 76*, 11) himself have struggled to guide the team out of troubled waters. And while Mohammad Naim and Afif Hossain were impressive in the opening T20I, the side needs their established players to step up and challenge a relatively inexperienced New Zealand side.

Bangladesh's bowling too has struggled so far but the failure of their batsmen have made matters worse. They managed scores of just 131, 271 and 154 in ODIs and were kept to 144 in the first T20I. Needless to say, the resurrection will have to come from their batsmen.

Meanwhile, New Zealand have turned things around beautifully after seven consecutive T20I losses at one stage in 2020. They were ruthless against West Indies and Pakistan and came on top over Australia. With IPL incoming, they are comfortable giving some downtime to their first-choice players. They now find themselves with more opportunities to experiment and allow players a chance to show their skills ahead of the T20 World Cup.