Bangladesh are looking to ending the three-match ODI series against New Zealand on a positive note. 

Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza on Tuesday said they are keen to earn some confidence in the final match of the series when they face the hosts on February 20 at 4am (Bangladesh time). 

Tigers lost the first two matches. Bangladesh failed to execute their plan, especially, in the first 10 overs in both matches when they lost too many wickets, reports the UNB.

Mashrafe said they are expecting a relatively batting wicket in Dunedin where they played only one ODI back in 2010 and lost the match by five wickets. 

But this time around, Mashrafe is confident of exploiting the batting wicket. 

‘This is (the wicket of University Oval, Dunedin) very good wicket to bat on. We played a Test match here before. We batted well in that match (137 and 254),’ he said.

‘I know about New Zealand and England match here. England posted 335, New Zealand chased it down in 49 overs. So we are expecting a very good batting track here and will plan the game accordingly,’ he told a pre-match press conference.

‘Perhaps this is the last match before picking the World Cup squad. There is nothing much to bring changes to the team. The guys are experienced enough to do well. Things did not go the way we wanted in the last two outings. But still, we have a chance to pick up confidence from the last match before going to Ireland and World Cup,’ the captain said.

Bangladesh will miss the service of Mohammad Mithun in the last game as the middle-order batsman has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury which he sustained in the second game of the series. Mithun scored fifties in the first two games. 

Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mashud confirmed a scan suggested Mithun needs at least 10-12 days to recover and he might be available in the first Test which is slated to start from February 28. 

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim is also uncertain for the last match. The team manager said: ‘Mushfiqur is also suffering from a side strain. We are not sure about his participation in the last match. It will be decided after the pre-match warm-up.’

Due to Mithun’s injury, Bangladesh need to make at least one change to the playing XI. Mominul Haque, who is in New Zealand to play the Test series, might be included in ODI. Bangladesh team management might also call Rubel Hossain back in the playing XI. 

The right-handed pacer went to New Zealand scalping 22 wickets in 15 matches of Bangladesh Premier League but he was overlooked in the first two matches.