After posting a moderate total of 244, Bangladesh fought hard against New Zealand but in the end, they ended up losing their second game in the ongoing ICC Men’s World Cup by two wickets at the Oval, London on Wednesday.
Three spinners -- Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mosaddek Hossain -- took two wickets each when it needed most. But due to a low score on the board, their brilliant bowling efforts went in vain.
At the same time, a horrible keeping mistake by Mushfiqur Rahim also was a reason behind this loss. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson got a life when he was at eight during the 12th over of their innings.
Ross Tayler pushed the ball towards mid-on. Tamim was there and threw the ball to the striking end. The ball was direct to the stumps, but Mushfiqur came in front of stumps, grabbed the ball and broke the stumps. But grabbing the ball, he disturbed the bells with his elbow. Williamson ended up hitting 40. Bangladesh cost a lot for that fumble.
New Zealand added 35 runs in the first wicket stand while chasing. They lost two wickets in 55 runs. Both of the first two wickets were removed by Shakib. Despite having a low score, Bangladesh fought hard from the start of their defending act.
However, in the third wicket stand, Williamson and Taylor added 105. This stand made the things difficult for the Tigers.
But the bowlers were doing well. They bagged wickets at regular intervals. Miraz removed Williamson who was the biggest threat for Bangladesh. Two runs later, Miraz scalped the wicket of Tom Latham as well. These two wickets brought the Tigers back in the match.
After that, Mosaddek and Mohammad Saifuddin bagged the wickets of Ross Taylor (82 off 91 with nine fours), Colin de Grandhomme (15), James Neesham (25) and Matt Henry (6). However, in the end, Bangladesh lost the game with 17 balls to spare. Mitchell Santner (12) and Lockie Ferguson (4) remained unbeaten. Taylor was the man of the match for his match-winning knock.
Earlier, Bangladesh batted first after losing the toss and posted a moderate total of 244 runs. They gave away 124 dot balls in their innings. Shakib was the best batsman hitting 68. Besides him, Mohammad Saifuddin (29) Mohammad Mithun (26), Soumya Sarkar (25), Tamim Iqbal (24) and Mahmudullah (20) also contributed with the bat.
For New Zealand, Matt Henry took four wickets for 47 runs, and Trent Boult took two for 44.
Bangladesh will take on the hosts England in their third World Cup game on June 8 at the Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, while New Zealand will face Afghanistan on the same day at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.
