Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has confirmed the schedule for the national team’s next series against New Zealand. The two teams will face each other in six white-ball matches – 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is – which will directly clash with the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL).ย
No Bangladesh player is involved in the IPL this year, while several of the Kiwi cricketers feature in the cash-rich league. However, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) allows its players to play the IPL and generally selects a squad with players who do not have a contract in any of the T20 leagues.
This means Bangladesh will most probably field a full-strength squad against New Zealand and have a great chance to improve their ICC ODI rankings to directly qualify for the World Cup next year. They defeated Pakistan on Sunday 2-1 to jump from 10th to 9th place and another series against a top team will certainly take them closer or even beyond England who are in eighth place at the moment and are not playing a single ODI until July 2026.
BAN vs NZ ODI series to start on April 17
As far as the schedule of the New Zealand tour of Bangladesh is concerned, it will get underway with the ODI series on April 17 while the T20Is will start from April 27. Dhaka and Chattogram will host three matches each during the tour.
Schedule
ODI Series
April 17 – 1st ODI: Mirpur, Dhaka
April 20 – 2nd ODI:ย Mirpur, Dhaka
April 23 – 3rd ODI:ย Chattogram
T20I Series
April 27 – 1st T20I: Chattogram
April 29 – 2nd T20I: Chattogram
May 2 – 3rd T20I: Mirpur, Dhaka
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will also host Sri Lanka Women’s team during their home season for six white-ball matches. All the matches of the ODI series will be played at Rajshahi Divisional Stadium on April 20, 22 and 25. After the ODI leg of the tour, teams will travel to Sylhet where all three T20Is will take place on April 28, April 30 and May 2.