Gone are the days when Bangladesh used to take part in ICC tournaments only to give away easy wins for the opponents. They proved, yet again, that on their day, they can beat any team in the world.
In an absolute thriller of a contest and a crucial one at that, the spirited Bangladesh beat an uninspiring New Zealand side in their last league game of Champions Trophy 2017 to keep their chances of making it to the semi-final alive. With this win, they knocked New Zealand out of the tournament.
Earlier in the day, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat on a slightly double-paced track at the Sofia Gardens, Cardiff. All the Kiwi top-order batsmen got starts but no one really went on to get a big one and the loss of wickets in heap at the back end of the innings meant they had to be content with 265 which was below-par.
While Bangladesh were happy after doing a great job with the ball, the triple-strike by Tim Southee within the first ten overs put their chase in trouble. The new ball was doing its bit and the Kiwi bowlers bowled tight lines and gave nothing away. Things didn’t look very good for Bangladesh at that stage.
But, the experience of Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah came to the fore as both the batsmen put on a match-winning partnership. Both the batsmen scored hundreds and in the end, Bangladesh won the game comfortably by 5 wickets.
Here are the 5 talking points of this historic game.
#1 Record partnership between Mahmudullah and Shakib
The target was gettable. 265 in this day and age in ODIs should be easy to get. And Bangladesh had the in-form Tamim Iqbal opening the innings. All was good until Tim Southee swung a web around the Bangladeshi top order by picking three wickets within five overs.
However, the innings took a new path from then, a path that took Bangladesh to a historic win.
The two new batsmen, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan looked a class apart in their partnership of 224. They first rescued the sinking Bangladeshi ship and then punished New Zealand bowlers for their inefficient bowling.
#2 New Zealand’s middle-order disappoints yet again
After losing the openers, Luke Ronchi and Martin Guptill, relatively early, Kane Williamson joined forces with Ross Taylor to provide a much-needed momentum to New Zealand. The Kiwi skipper looked in great nick in his 69-ball 57 but was unfortunate to get run-out for the second time in three matches of the tournament.
Apart from Ross Taylor, all the other batsmen fell looking to score quickly and as a result, the innings lost its path. Not for the first time in this tournament, New Zealand’s middle-order undid the hard work put in by the top-four.
#3 Mosaddek Hossain’s spell of 3-0-13-3
While the kiwi middle-order didn’t show lot of character, take nothing away from the young Mosaddek Hossain for his brave and wily bowling. Coming in to bowl at a stage when New Zealand were looking to launch, Hossain’s spell changed the course of the game completely.
With two hard hitters in James Neesham and Corey Anderson at the crease, Hussain showed great temperament and awareness.
It was him who ran through the New Zealand middle-order and curtailed the run-flow in the process. The off-spinner bowled three economical overs at a crucial time in the innings. He was particularly impressive with his pace variation and he used the arm-ball to great effect to trouble kiwi left-handers.
#4 Four bowlers gamble cost New Zealand the game
Both Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan deserve lot of credit for their hundreds, no doubt about that. But, they were helped by some poor bowling from James Neesham and Corey Anderson, who tried their best to play the fifth bowler’s role. After surviving an impressive spell from Tim Southee, both the batsmen looked to attack the Kiwi all-rounders.
Mahmudullah, in particular, showed a lot of aggression against Neesham as he smashed him for quite a few boundaries. This forced Kane Williamson to bring himself into the attack to slip in few overs. But, Shakib took matters into his hands and scored few quick runs off him.
It was yet another example that you can’t win games with just four bowlers in the 50-over format. After India, this was New Zealand’s turn to learn this lesson the hard way.
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Qualification scenario for each team
#5 Kane Williamson’s misfortune
You have got to feel for Kane Williamson. The Kiwi captain has been in absolutely brilliant form in this tournament. But unfortunately, he didn’t get much support from his teammates.
The classy right-hander scored a brilliant hundred against Australia in their first league game but was unfortunate to get run-out. He notched up yet another impressive 87 against England and was dismissed by a peach of a delivery from Mark Wood. And in this game, yet again, he got run-out after a playing a handy knock of 57.
Clearly, New Zealand relied heavily upon their skipper and that hurt them badly. In fact, that cost them a spot in the semi-finals.
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