ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Bangladesh vs New Zealand: 5 Talking points
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.