Bangladesh-NZ 2nd Test: Rain washes out Day One

The first day of the second Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand was washed out without even the toss taking place at the Basin Reserve Stadium in Wellington yesterday. The match will now be a four-day affair which, among other implications, means that the margin to enforce the follow-on -- should the occasion arise -- will now be 150 rather than the standard 200 for five-day matches.

Play was set to start half an hour early at 3:30am (Bangladesh time) on today's second day, which will effectively be the first day of the match.

There is rain forecast for today as well, and the shortened match is likely to result in a revision of tactics for Bangladesh. The rainfall means that an already green pitch could aid pacers more, and so it is likely that Bangladesh would opt to go in with four seamers, with Mustafizur Rahman coming back into the side to join the rookie pace trio of Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Abu Jayed.

Before the first day, there were indications that Khaled would make way for Mustafizur, while off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz -- who turned in Bangladesh's most expensive innings figures of one for 245 in the first Test in Hamilton -- was set to make way for left-arm spinner Taijul Islam. However, the rain and reduction in days could see a change of plan to an all-pace attack.

The extra day will also benefit opener Tamim Iqbal as he will have one more day to recover from the groin pain he experienced during practice on Wednesday.