Bangladesh secured their maiden victory in the 8th ICC Champions Trophy beating New Zealand by five-wicket in their 3rd and last group match at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Friday.
Chasing a target 266 runs, Bangladesh shored their winning vessel scoring 268 for 5 in 47.2 overs, bouncing back from a calamitous state, where all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad hit a century each.
Besides their individual performances, Shakib and Mahmudullah shared the Tigers highest ODI partnership of 224 in 34.5 overs in any stand which is also the 2nd highest in this tournament.
Tiger’s previous highest ODI partnership was of 178-run in 21.4 overs that came in the 3rd pair between Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim in a match against Pakistan in Dhaka in April 2015. Tamim and Mushfiqur hammered a century each in the match scoring 132 and 106 runs respectively.
Mosaddek Hossain (not out 7 off 4b; 1×4) fired boundary in the innings last ball off Adam Milne to reach their ultimate destination.
Man of the match Shakib played an innings of 114 off 115 balls, featuring 11 boundaries and one over boundary, for his 7th ODI century.
Mahmudullah who hit back to back century in the last World Cup, stayed for unbeaten 102 off 107 balls, including eight boundaries and two over boundaries, for his 3rd century.
Bangladesh suffered early jolts losing four top order batsmen — Tamim Iqbal (0), Soumya Sarkar (3), Sabbir Rahman (8) and Mushfiqur Rahim (14) — quickly for 33 in 11.4 overs. From there Shakib and Mahmudullah started their composures in the 5th pair which ended-up at 257/5 in 46.3 overs as Shakib was bowled out by Trent Boult.
Mahmudullah and Mosaddek did the remaining job for the win and eliminated New Zealand from the tournament.
Winning the match, the Tigers have brightened their chances to qualify the last four of the eight-nation tournament from Group A to join with England.
If Australia lose their last game against England or rain wash out the match, scheduled to be held at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday, there will be no options to stop Bangladesh’s through to in the semi-finals for the first time in any world event.
Opener Tamim Iqbal who hammered 128 and 95 runs against England and Australia in the tournament respectively, was out with duck in the very 2nd ball of the innings off Tim Southee when the team collection was only one.
After Tamim’s departure by lbw, Sabbir Rahman came to pair with Soumya Sarkar, but followed Tamim’s path soon departing from crease as he was caught by Luke Ronchi off Tim Southee after scoring 8 off 9 balls, including two boundaries.
Tim Southee captured three wickets for 45 runs in 9 overs while Trent Boult and Adam Milne took one wicket each for 48 and 58 runs in respectively.
Earlier, batting first after winning the toss, New Zealand scored 265 for 8 in 50 overs spurred by a partnership contribution of 83 in 17.1 overs in the 3rd stand between Ross Taylor and skipper Kane Williamson.
Taylor stayed for top-scoring 63 off 82 balls, including six boundaries, before being caught by Mustafizur Rahman off Taskin Ahmed at 201/4 in 38.4 overs.
Taylor and Williamson started their contribution from 69/2 in 12.5 overs in the 3rd wicket which ended-up at 152/3 in 30 overs as Williamson fell victim of run out after hammering a half century of 57 off 69 balls, including five boundaries.
Finger spinner Mosaddek Hossain changed the scenario of the game in the death overs picking up three dangerous wickets — Broom, Neesham and Anderson — within a span of 12 runs in 2.5 overs, from 228/5 in 43.1 overs to 240/7 in 46 overs.
Neil Broom (36 off 40b; 3×4), opener Martin Guptill (33 off 35b; 4×4; 1×6) and James Neesham (23 off 24b; 3×4) were the other notable scorers for the side.
Mitchell Santner (14 off 18b) and Tim Southee (10 off 5b; 2×4) shared an unbeaten short partnership innings of 13 in 1.3 overs in the 9th stand.
New Zealand faced the first jolt at 46/1 in 7.1 overs as the opening batsman Luke Ronchi (16 off 18b; 2×4) was caught by Mustafizur Rahman off Taskin’s 1st delivery of his 2nd over.
Mosaddek captured three wickets giving away only 13-run in 3 overs. Taskin bagged two wickets conceding 43-run in 8 overs.
Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain took one wicket each spending 52 and 60 runs in 9 and 10 overs respectively.
This is Bangladesh’s 10th win over New Zealand in their 31 ODI encounters. — Dhaka, UNB
