Champions Trophy 2017 | Gritty Bangladesh beat New Zealand by five wickets

06/09/2017

Shakib Al Hasan (114) and Mahmudullah (102*) produced a virtuoso batting display to secure a 5-wicket victory for Bangladesh and knockout New Zealand in Cardiff. While chasing the Kiwi’s score of 265, the Tigers found themselves at 33/4 before the duo's record partnership ensured an unlikely win.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 265/8 (Ross Taylor 63, Kane Williamson 57; Mosaddek Hossain 3/13, Taskin Ahmed 2/43) lost to Bangladesh 268/5 (Shakib Al Hasan 114, Mahmudullah 102*; Tim Southee 3/45, Trent Boult 1/48) by 5 wickets.

In a match that would put the winner in the driving seat for a semi-final spot, New Zealand won the toss. While Williamson won the toss and announced that the Kiwis would bat first with the same team as the England game, Mashrafe Mortaza made two changes to the team with Taskin Ahmed and Mosaddek Hossain replacing Imrul Kayes and Mehedi Hasan respectively.

Williamson, Taylor stabilise innings after early dismissals

New Zealand came out with a proper plan with Luke Ronchi looking to anchor the innings while Martin Guptill played the role of the aggressor. The latter signalled his intent early smashing Mustafizur Rahman for 11 runs in the second over. Even though Ronchi was dismissed by Taskin in the sixth over, the Kiwis managed to score at a rate of a run a ball in the first powerplay. However, again after getting his eye in, Guptill was dismissed before he could do any real damage when Rubel Hossain caught him plumb in front of his stumps for 33. Taylor came out all guns blazing as he smashed Taskin for two consecutive boundaries but on realising the gravity of the match, he, along with Williamson, slowed the game down and guided their side to a respectable 109/2 in 20 overs. On the third ball of the 25th over, Williamson brought up his fourth consecutive 50+ runs in the Champions Trophy with New Zealand reaching 134.

Mosaddek Hossain brings the Tigers roaring back

New Zealand looked well set to cross the 300-run mark before the 83 run stand was finally brought to an end, in the 30th over, after some good work by Mosaddek and Shakib as Williamson was run out for a third time in four ODI games. Taylor’s patience finally paid some dividends as the pinch- hitter brought up his fifty off 67 balls. However, when it came to accelerating Taylor was unable to make a big difference and was dismissed for 63 as New Zealand went past the 200-run mark with 10 overs to play. James Neesham and Neil Broom tried to up the ante and scored 25 off the next three overs. But, Mortaza threw a curveball at the Kiwis by bringing on Mosaddek Hossain who dismissed Broom and Anderson in the same over before sending Neesham packing in the next. New Zealand could only manage 25 runs in the last four overs to finish at a sub-par score of 265/8.

Southee ‘swings’ the game in the Kiwis’ favour

Needing to score at just over 5.3 runs per over, Bangladesh got off to the worst possible start as the in-form Tamim Iqbal was dismissed on the second ball of the innings, caught LBW by Tim Southee. The Kiwi pacer then dismissed Sabbir Rahman (8) and Soumya Sarkar (3) in consecutive overs to leave the Tigers reeling at 12/3 in five overs. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan then tried to consolidate the innings and guided the team to 24/3 in the first powerplay. But the partnership didn’t last long either as Rahim was undone by a brilliant Adam Milne ball that uprooted his middle stump. With their two most experienced batsmen at the crease, Mahmudullah and Shakib, Bangladesh knew it was upto the duo to guide them through on a treacherous pitch in Cardiff. Rotating the strike well, the two saw off the new ball and managed to take the score to a respectable 109/4 at the midway point of the innings.

Mahmudullah and Shakib make it a memorable day for Bangladesh

With a shot to third man, off the back foot, Shakib brought up his fifty and the century partnership on the same ball. Running out of ideas, Williamson decided to bring himself into the attack but he ended up conceding 13 in his second over. That resulted in the required run rate reaching six for the first time since the tenth over. Even though Boult, Milne and Santner were able to stem the run flow, needing just 70 in the last ten overs, Bangladesh were the clear favorites. With a couple runs off Santner, the duo created history by making the partnership the biggest in Bangladesh’s history. With a boundary an over, the Tigers looked to be in a hurry to complete the win. But before that Shakib brought up his hundred with a six off a Milne delivery in the 46th over. Though Shakib’s brave knock finally came to an end when he was cleaned up by Boult in the next over it still proved to be good over for the Tigers as Mahmudullah brought up his century off the last ball. They eventually completed the win with 16 balls to spare and five wickets in hand. Bangladesh now need England to beat Australia tomorrow to book a place in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy.

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