Champions Trophy 2017, Bangladesh vs New Zealand: Shakib-Mahmudullah's partnership is the SK Turning Point of the Match
It was the 9th match of the ICC Champions Trophy at Cardiff where a lot was at stake for Bangladesh and New Zealand. It was a must-win game for both sides to stay alive in the tournament. The Kiwis were believed to be the stronger side and historically too, they had the better of the opposition.
As it turned out, Bangladesh pulled off a stunning victory that knocked the World Cup finalists out of contention. Not only they won the match, they proved why they deserved to be a part of the Champions Trophy as many had questioned their existence amongst the best sides in the world.
Match story
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first on a surface that was supposed to assist the batsmen. They got off to a decent start with the openers adding 46 runs before Luke Ronchi was removed for 16 in the 8th over.
Martin Guptill didn’t last too long either and departed for 33 as he was trapped in front of the wickets by Rubel Hossain. At 69/2 after 12.5 overs, they needed a partnership. The call was answered by the skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.
Both got to their individual half-centuries and added 83 runs for the 3rd wicket. Williamson was removed due to an unfortunate incident when he got run out owing to a confusion in running between the wickets. He made 57 off 69 balls with 5 boundaries and went back in the 30th over.
Ross Taylor carried on to make 63 off 82 balls and became the 4th wicket to fall in the innings in the 39th over. They had reached 201/4 with more than 10 overs to go and a nice platform was set for the lower middle-order to finish on a high.
Extra cover: ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Who said What: World reacts to Bangladesh's stunning victory over New Zealand
But Mashrafe Mortaza made a surprise move of introducing Mosaddek Hossain at the death and it paid rich dividends. The off-spinner accounted for the wickets of Neil Broom, Corey Anderson and James Neesham within 2 overs that pegged them back.
New Zealand could score only 62 runs in the last 10 overs and a solid platform was wasted. At one stage, they looked like going past 300 but ended up at 265/8 at the end of 50 overs.
During Bangladesh’s chase, the Kiwi seamers extracted some assistance from the surface and troubled the top-order. Tim Southee was the major destructor as he dismissed Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman to leave them tottering at 12/3 in the 5th over.
Adam Milne came into the attack and castled Mushfiqur Rahim in the 12th over to leave them further into trouble at 33/4. After their woeful start, all seemed lost for the Tigers as they had to chase down a fairly decent total with just six wickets remaining. However, a magical partnership brought them back in the game.
The Turning Point
Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah came together in the middle when the team was in dire a need of a partnership. The duo brought substance to the chase and mixed caution with aggression. They looked for the odd boundary and rotated the strike well.
Slowly yet steadily, they brought their team back in the game. They brought up the fifty partnership, then the hundred partnership, Shakib got to his half-century and shortly, Mahmudullah achieved the landmark too.
Milestones piled up as the duo kept moving towards the improbable. They first reached the highest 5th wicket partnership for Bangladesh and it soon turned into the highest partnership for the team for any wicket in their ODI history.
Both batsmen put the side on the verge of a victory and entered the into the 90s together. First, Shakib brought up his hundred in the 46th over soon after they completed a 200-run stand. Soon after, the left-hander lost his wicket on the hunt to finish on a high and a splendid knock ended at 114 off 115 balls.
The partnership of 224 runs ended but they needed just 9 runs off 21 balls. Mahmudullah too reached the three-figure mark and finished unbeaten at 102 off 107 balls. Bangladesh got home with 16 balls to spare and achieved a famous win.
It was a remarkable comeback by 2 excellent cricketers. The superb stand proved that Bangladesh have come a long way in the past few years. With the win, they reached 3 points and will now hope that England beat Australia in the next match so that they would qualify for the semis along with the hosts.