Riding on half-centuries from Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman, Bangladesh beat New Zealand by five wickets in the final match of the ODI tri-series. The win pushes Bangladesh to sixth position in the ICC rankings.
Chasing a challenging target of 271, Bangladesh got off to a strong start, despite losing an early wicket. Tamim and Sabbir added 136 runs for the second wicket to lay a solid platform. The two got identical scores of 65. After Tamim’s dismissal in the 27th over, there was a flurry of wickets but the experienced duo of Mushfiqur Rahim (45*) and Mahmudullah (46*) arrested the slide and took the team to victory. This was Bangladesh’s first overseas win over New Zealand. Earlier, Bangladesh bowlers fought back to restrict New Zealand to 270 for eight.
When the Black Caps were 208-3 in the 39th over they were on course for a total of 300, but the dismissal of the dangerous Corey Anderson triggered a collapse - they lost three wickets for two runs in 11 balls - and it needed Ross Taylor to hold the innings together.
The former captain finished 60 not out from 56 balls with just six fours, with wickets falling around him as New Zealand failed to build on a second-wicket stand of 133 between skipper Tom Latham and Neil Broom.
Luke Ronchi lasted only five balls after Bangladesh won the toss with Mustafizur Rahman breaching his defence in the second over. Latham, on the back of his century against Ireland in their big victory, picked up where he left off and found the boundary 11 times in his 92 ball-innings of 84.
Brief scores: New Zealand 270/8 (50 over); Bangladesh 271/5 (48.2 over)
