DHAKA: Tom Latham’s unbeaten 65 just failed to steal victory from Bangladesh who won the second Twenty20 International against New Zealand on Friday by four runs to go 2-0 up in their five-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh made 141 for six from their 20 overs with Mohammad Naim making 39 and captain Mahmudullah an unbeaten 37.
New Zealand’s chase only came alive in the final overs and with skipper Latham at the helm they came agonisingly close after needing 20 from the final nervy six balls off Mustafizur Rahman. The left-armer gave away seven extras among 15 runs conceded but New Zealand ended on 137-5.
Bangladesh spinners again dominated on the slow wicket with Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan finishing with 2-12 and 2-29 respectively.
Shakib ended a 43-run second wicket stand between Latham and Will Young to get within one wicket of joining Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga as the leading wicket taker in Twenty20 Internationals. The star all-rounder now has 106 wickets in the shortest format.
Latham, who survived a stumping on 54, put Bangladesh under pressure with his solid batting.
New Zealand, hammered by seven wickets in the opening game, needed six off the last ball for victory but Latham managed only a single.
“It was a great game to take it down to the last over,” said the New Zealand captain. “I thought we learned from the last game and to take it down to the last over with a chance of winning was outstanding.”
Mahmudullah said he had confidence in Mustafizur to handle the final over. “Mustafizur held his nerve well and we went really close. It was unusual, but I had quite a bit of confidence in Mustafizur.”
Naim and Liton Das added 59 in Bangladesh’s opening stand after Mahmudullah won the toss and elected to bat.
Liton, who was dropped before he had scored by Colin de Grandhomme off Cole McConchie, went on the punish New Zealand by making 33 off 29 balls. Rachin Ravindra (3-22) dismissed Liton in the 10th over and then had Mushfiqur Rahim out for a duck in the next ball.
Scoreboard BANGLADESH: M. Naim c Blundell b Ravindra 39 Liton Das b Ravindra 33 Mushfiqur Rahim st Latham b Ravindra 0 Shakib Al Hasan c Sears b McConchie 12 Mahmudullah not out 37 Afif Hossain c de Grandhomme b Patel 3 Nurul Hasan c Young b Bennett 13 EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2) 4 TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs) 141 FALL OF WKTS: 1-59, 2-59, 3-72, 4-106, 5-109, 6-141. DID NOT BAT: Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman. BOWLING: Patel 4-0-20-1 (1w); McConchie 4-0-24-1; Bennett 4-0-32-1; Bracewell 4-0-30-0 (1w); Ravindra 4-0-22-3; Sears 1-0-11-0. NEW ZEALAND: T.A. Blundell st Nurul b Mahedi 6 R. Ravindra b Shakib 10 T.W.M. Latham not out 65 W.A. Young c Saifuddin b Shakib 22 C. de Grandhomme c Mushfiqur b Nasum 8 H.M. Nicholls c Mushfiqur b Mahedi 6 C.E. McConchie not out 15 EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2, NB-1) 5 TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 137 FALL OF WKTS: 1-16, 2-18, 3-61, 4-85, 5-92. DID NOT BAT: D.A.J. Bracewell, A.Y. Patel, H.K. Bennett, B.V. Sears. BOWLING: Mahedi Hasan 4-0-12-2; Nasum Ahmed 3-0-17-1 (1w); Shakib Al Hasan 4-0-29-2; Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-34-0 (1nb, 1w); Mahmudullah 1-0-7-0; Mohammad Saifuddin 4-0-36-0. RESULT: Bangladesh won by four runs to lead five-match series 2-0. UMPIRES: Masudur Rahman (Bangladesh) and Tanvir Ahmed (Bangladesh). TV UMPIRE: Sharfuddoula Saikat (Bangladesh). MATCH REFEREE: Neeyamur Rashid (Bangladesh). PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Mahmudullah.
Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2021
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