Bangladesh claimed a historic five-wicket win over New Zealand on Wednesday after their bowlers ran riot in the opening game of their three-match Twenty20 series on Wednesday in Napier.
This was Bangladesh’s first Twenty20 win on New Zealand soil, four days after also claiming a maiden away one-day international win over the Black Caps in Napier.
“I’m really excited and very proud of how we played,” said Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.
Asked to bat by Shanto, New Zealand made a disastrous start losing three wickets before reaching 134 for nine after their 20 overs.
“Our bowlers learnt quickly in these conditions with the new ball,” Shanto added. “We were really confident after we restricted them.”
The Black Caps bowlers gave home fans hope with the early wickets of Bangladesh opener Rony Talukdar and Shanto.
Veteran Litton Das partnered up with Soumya Sarkar, then Towhid Hridoy to steer Bangladesh to 96-4 after 13 overs.
The visitors were wobbling at 97-5 as they lost wickets in quick succession after Afif Hossain was caught for one run off six balls.
Das, who finished on 42 not out, survived two close calls as he battled cramp.
The on-field umpire gave him out lbw on Tim Southee’s bowling, but the Bangladesh opener stayed at the crease when the review showed the ball would have sailed over the stumps.
Ish Sodhi then caught Das at the boundary, but stepped onto the boundary rope to give away six runs.
It fell to all-rounder Mahedi Hasan, who finished 19 not out, to hit the winning runs in his partnership of 40 alongside Das with eight balls spare.
“Credit to Bangladesh, they bowled well,” said Mitchell Santner, who captained New Zealand with regular white ball skipper Kane Williamson rested.
“We fought hard with the ball to make it interesting, but the powerplay took it away from us with the bat,” Santner added.
The second and third Twenty20 in Internationals will both be played at Mount Maunganui on Friday, then Sunday.
Bangladesh, ranked ninth in Twenty20 international cricket, punched above their weight to floor third-ranked New Zealand.
Having dismissed the Black Caps for 98 in Saturday’s third one-day international in losing the series 2-1, the Bangladesh bowlers picked up where they left off.
Hasan bowled Tim Seifert in the opening over.
Shoriful Islam was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers with 3-26, including having Finn Allen caught and Glenn Phillips trapped lbw in consecutive balls.
Daryl Mitchell hit consecutive fours before falling for 14 to leave New Zealand 20-4.
Mark Chapman hit 19 off as many balls before being caught with the score on 50-5.
Santner and James Neesham put on 41 before Sarkar made his second catch to dismiss Santner, having also caught Allen in the slips.
Neesham fell two runs short of his 50, holing out at deep cover point, and Southee was caught on eight.
Adam Milne hit a towering six off the final ball to finish 16 not out before Bangladesh’s batters chipped away at New Zealand’s tally.