Despite a better batting performance, Bangladesh endured a second successive defeat to New Zealand by 5 wickets on Tuesday at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch. Some sloppy fielding cost the Tigers series with one match to play on March 26 at Wellington.
New Zealand won the toss and sent Bangladesh bat first, who were extra cautious at the start of the innings. Tamim smashed Trent Boult in the first over for a four, but later on, he played slowly against the Kiwi pace-attack.
Despite the vigilance, in the second over of the match, bowled by Matt Henry, Bangladesh lost Liton Das for a duck. Eventually, Tamim hit 78 and Mohammad Mithun scored 73 not-out to post a challenging total of 271 for six— Bangladesh’s second-highest total in New Zealand.
Securing a challenging total and taking some early wickets hinted that Bangladesh could end the winless drought in New Zealand in this game. But things changed when Mushfiqur Rahim missed a dolly off James Neesham who partnered with Tom Latham to finish the match in style.
Mahedi Hasan, who was playing only his second ODI, took two early wickets to put extra pressure on the hosts. But he erased his early success missing another easy return catch off Tom Latham who ended up hitting a ton and winning the game for the home side.
Latham got another life when Mahedi missed a catch at the boundary line when he drove Mohammad Saifuddin for a four. Mahedi needed to move ahead to get that catch but he failed to respond on time. As a result, he missed the catch and also failed to save the boundary.
These three dropped catches were enough to cost Bangladesh this match. New Zealand ended up on 275 for five with Latham remained not-out for 110 off 108 balls with 10 fours.
At one point, the Kiwis were struggling at 53 for three wickets. The Tigers needed to put more pressure on the hosts’ batting line-up. But they couldn’t do that. In the fourth wicket stand, Devon Conway and Latham posted 113 runs on the board, which eventually proved to be a game-changing affair.
Had Mushfiqur and Mahedi taken those catches, the things would have been different at the end. In the fifth wicket stand, Latham and Neesham added 76 runs, which has ended Bangladesh’s chance in every way.
For Bangladesh, Mustafizur and Mahedi bagged two wickets each.
Earlier, Bangladesh started slowly after sent to bat first. After losing the toss, Tamim said the strategy is to start slow and accelerate later. The plan was working well but Soumya Sarkar and Tami himself got dismissed in an unwanted fashion.
Soumya came out of the crease to hit Mitchel Santer but he missed the ball and the wicketkeeper didn’t miss to shatter his stumps. And Tamim called Mushfiqr for a single what wasn’t there, and he cost with being run-out at 78.
Bangladesh needed more runs in the last 10 overs. But it was unfortunate for them that Mushfiqur was removed in the very first of the last 10 overs, which cost them a lot. Mahmudullah Riyad came in to bat at six but failed to come with some big shots. However, Mohammad Mithun was at his best in this match. He remained unbeaten for 73 off 57 balls with six fours and two sixes.
For New Zealand, Santner bagged two wickets while Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson took one wicket each.
