Bangladesh revise match timings for New Zealand series to support energy-saving initiative

KARACHI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday announced revising the match timings of its men's team's home white-ball series against New Zealand in light of the federal government's initiative to support energy saving.

Bangladesh are scheduled to host New Zealand for a three-match ODI series, followed by as many T20Is, in their first international assignment since the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 snub.

The Tigers' home assignment will get underway with the ODI series, the first two matches of which will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on April 17 and 20, while the third fixture will be held in Chattogram on April 23.

All three matches were supposed to be day-night affairs, but the BCB has pulled their scheduled start time by three hours.

As a result, the 50-over games will now commence at 11 AM local time, with the aim of being completed by sunset at around 6:30 PM, as the cricket board expects to save at least four hours in electricity consumption.

Furthermore, the start time of Bangladesh's opening two T20Is of the three-match series against New Zealand, slated to be played in Chattogram on April 27 and 29, have also been pulled back by four hours, with the first ball now scheduled to be bowled at 2 PM local time.

Meanwhile, the third T20I, scheduled to be played in Mirpur, Dhaka, on May 2, was already slated to kick off at 2 PM.

"The board has decided to readjust the match timings of the forthcoming Bangladesh vs New Zealand ODI and T20I series to support the energy saving initiative of the Bangladesh Government," the BCB said in a statement.

"The revised timing, which will be announced in due course, will aim to make maximum use of daylight in the day-night games," it added.

For the unversed, the BCB's decision to support the government's energy saving initiative will also be applicable for its women's team's home T20I series against Sri Lanka, set to be played in Sylhet on April 28 and 30, and May 2, respectively.

The shortest-format fixtures were originally supposed to commence at 6 PM local time, but will now get underway at 1:30 PM.