After winning the first two matches, Bangladesh gave the impression of winning the series. But the hosts lost the third match. The Tigers won the series against New Zealand by 6 wickets in the fourth match at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Wednesday.
Though Bangladesh made a strong position in ODIs, their place in another limited-overs format T20 was quite shaky. The Tigers were thinking ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, the team of captain Mahmudullah Riyadh has recently become irresistible in this format as well. The Tigers have won all three of their last T20 series.
A few days ago, the Bangladesh team won the three-match series 2-1 by visiting Zimbabwe. The Tigers made history back home. For the first time, Bangladesh tasted a series win against Australia. Ajaz was blown away 4-1. Today is another history. Bangladesh also won the 20-over series for the first time against New Zealand.
The five-match series of the Bangladesh team against the Kiwis started on September 1. The hosts won the first two matches. History would have been written on the same day when the third match of the series was won on September 5, but the hosts did not have to burn with regret despite the long wait. In the fourth match of the series, the Kiwis were bowled out for 93 runs to reach the target of 94 runs and win by 6 wickets. History has been written in it!
Earlier in the day, the New Zealand batsmen could not take full advantage of the Bangladeshi bowlers’ bowling cannon. Their innings were reduced to just 93 runs. The start of Bangladesh’s innings was also quite shaky. Two openers Liton Das and Naeem Sheikh can make 4 runs on the scoreboard from the first two overs.
In the third over of the innings, spinner Cole McConchie came to make his first over and brought a break-through. Return to Liton who batted for 6 runs. Ajaz Patel hit a double in the last over of the power play. In the beginning, Shakib Al Hasan became his victim. He fell into the trap of stumping with 8 runs off 8 balls. Mushfiqur Rahim made his way to the dressing room after two balls. This experienced batsman could not open the run record.
At the end of 6 overs, the Bangladesh team lost 3 wickets for 32 runs. From there, opener Naim and captain Mahmudullah rescued the team. 34 runs came from the pair on the fourth wicket. In slow batting, the duo, however, spent 51 balls. The pair broke up when Naim failed to finish the match despite being set. When he took 2 runs at risk, he was run out and returned with an innings of 29 runs off 35 balls.
Then when Afif Hossain came to the wicket, Bangladesh needed 24 runs from 33 balls to win. Mahmudullah and Afif did not take any risk to complete the rest of the formalities. Bangladesh wrote history in an inseparable pair of two. Bangladesh won with 6 wickets and 5 balls in hand. Leading from the front, Mahmudullah remained unbeaten on 43 off 48 balls. 6 runs came from Afif’s bat.
Earlier, New Zealand could not start their innings well after winning the toss and opting to bat. Bangladeshi left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed returned opener Rachin Rabindra in the first over of the innings. He picked up the Kiwi opener in the maiden over. Rachin returned to the dressing room before opening the run register. The left-arm spinner hit again before one over. This time he returned to Finn Allen. Allen made 12 off 8 balls.
The Power Play could score a total of 22 runs in 6 overs and the visitors could not turn around later. Sheikh Mehedi Hasan also took the ball for the first time in the 11th over of the innings. He dismissed Tom Latham, who was settled on the wicket. Kiwi captain in the dressing room with 21 runs. Will Young played on one side of the fence, but his teammates from the other end joined the procession.
Back in the second spell, Nasum got success again. In the fourth and last over of his spell, he came to spin his hand and hit a double. Henry Nicholls (1) and Colin de Grandhomme (0) returned two balls in a row. The spinner had a chance to score a hat-trick but new batsman Tom Blandell jumped the ball and released it without raising the bat. Nasum took 4 wickets with only 10 runs in two maidens in four overs.
The next screenplay was written by Mustafizur Rahman. He came to bowl in the 16th over of the innings and returned Tom Blundell with the second ball. The batsman was dismissed for just 4 off 10 balls with a great catch by Naeem Sheikh in the mid-on. At the end of the same over, Cole McConchie made his way to the toilet with a great catch. Later in the last over of the innings, Mustafiz got two more wickets with two balls in a row.
The left-arm pacer made Young his third victim. The fighting innings of 46 off 48 balls came from Young’s bat. New Zealand’s innings came to a halt with Blair Tickner picking up the next ball for just 93 runs. Bangladesh’s target for victory was 94 runs. Along with Nasum, pacer Mustafizur Rahman also took 4 wickets in this match. He spent 12 runs from 3 balls in 3 overs.
