CHRISTCHURCH: Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan asked more from his batters after seeing his side fall to an eight-wicket loss to New Zealand in their second game of the tri-series on Sunday.

The world-class allrounder, who missed the opening defeat to Pakistan after arriving late to Christchurch, scored 16 off 16 balls and his side could only make 137-8 at the Hagley Oval — a target that New Zealand chased down with 13 balls to spare.

Bangladesh began reasonably and reached 30-1 after five offers but spinners Ish Sodhi and Michael Bracewell managed to slam the brakes as the visitors made the halfway point at 63-3 and slumped to 88-5 after 15 overs. Nurul Hasan came to his team’s rescue with an unbeaten 25 from 12 balls as Bangladesh took 27 runs from the last two overs.

Devon Conway then struck an unbeaten 70 off 51 balls, sharing an 85-run partnership for the second wicket with captain Kane Williamson as New Zealand bounced back after losing to Pakistan on Saturday.

“I thought with the used wicket the New Zealand spinners bowled really well,” Shakib said. “We started very well but in the middle overs, with their quality spin, we couldn’t handle it. We probably tried to play too many big shots and it cost us momentum.”

“Our top three or four, someone had to put their hand up and bat to the 15th or 16th overs. It’s not happening but we have two more games.”

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH: Najmul Hossain Shanto c Chapman b Sodhi 33 Mehidy Hasan Miraz c Milne b Southee 5 Litton Das c & b Bracewell 15 Afif Hossain b Boult 24 Mosaddek Hossain c Williamson b Sodhi 2 Yasir Ali c Milne b Bracewell 7 Shakib Al Hasan c (sub) b Southee 16 Nurul Hasan not out 25 Taskin Ahmed c Chapman b Boult 3 Hasan Mahmud not out 1 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5) 6 TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 137 DID NOT BAT: Shoriful Islam FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Mehidy), 2-53 (Litton), 3-59 (Najmul), 4-66 (Mosaddek), 5-78 (Yasir), 6-102 (Afif), 7-110 (Shakib), 8-128 (Taskin) BOWLING: Boult 4-0-25-2 (2w), Southee 4-0-34-2, Milne 2-0-12-0 (1w), Neesham 1-0-12-0 (1w), Bracewell 4-0-14-2, Sodhi 4-0-31-2 (1w), Phillips 1-0-8-0

NEW ZEALAND: F. Allen c Najmul b Shoriful 16 D. Conway not out 70 K. Williamson c Taskin b Hasan 30 G. Phillips not out 23 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2) 3 TOTAL (for two wickets, 17.5 overs) 142 DID NOT BAT: M. Chapman, J. Neesham, M. Bracewell, A. Milne, I. Sodhi, T. Southee, T. Boult FALL OF WICKETS: 1-24 (Allen), 2-109 (Williamson) BOWLING: Taskin 4-0-34-0 (1w), Shoriful 3.5-0-39-1, Hasan 4-0-26-1, Mehidy 2-0-12-0, Shakib 3-0-23-0, Mosaddek 1-0-7-0 RESULT: New Zealand won by eight wickets.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2022