'Harder to bat at home than in NZ'

Bangladesh's team management has left no stones unturned as far as their preparations for the New Zealand series is concerned.

They named a preparatory squad months before the series; they will be touring Australia before going to New Zealand in order to acclimatise to conditions in the southern hemisphere; they will also be playing against two teams from the Big Bash League in order to prepare for the T20Is against New Zealand.

All this, of course, has been planned as the management is expecting the foreign conditions to be tough for the Bangladesh national team.

The Bangladesh ODI and T20I skipper however told reporters yesterday that he expects the tour of New Zealand to be easier for Bangladesh's batsmen.

“I feel that the wickets here are more difficult to bat on than in New Zealand. Whenever we think about New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, we think of seaming conditions, but at the moment, it's nothing like that.

“Teams end up scoring 350 to 400 runs over there. They are very true wickets and easy for batsmen. It may be a bit difficult to bat in the first five to seven overs, but after that it will be easy for batsmen,” said Mashrafe.

“Of course, the Tests may be a little different. But on the whole, I think that it will be easier for our batsmen to score there as compared to here, provided that they are mentally prepared,” he added.

Furthermore, he also said that it would be wrong to expect those performing well in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) to do similarly well in New Zealand.

“A batsman may be a bit more confident if he performs well in the BPL, but there is no similarity between performing here and there. You can't say that a player who has done well in this league will do well there. Bowlers especially will find it more difficult over there,” said Mashrafe.