Again, Bangladesh’s bowling attack was far too good for New Zealand, most impressively snaring three wickets in the first two overs for only two runs.
The visitors won the toss, elected to bowl and it only took four balls from Mahedi Hasan before he found Tim Seifert’s stumps with a slower delivery on a shorter length just outside off, dismissing the opener for a three-ball duck.
By the end of the second over, Shoriful Islam had New Zealand reeling. Finn Allen hit a thick outside edge to Soumya Sarkar at second slip before Glenn Phillips didn’t play at the next, with ball-tracking showing it crashing into the top of the middle stump. On his hattrick delivery, Islam bowled full and angled into leg stump but was going down leg.
Jimmy Neesham, the saviour in so many New Zealand matches before, was the best of the batsmen but was undone by a full toss, caught at deep cover point for 48 from 29 deliveries. An attempted wide yorker from Mustafizur Rahman became a juicy full toss outside off but Neesham hit it down the throat of Afif Hossain before walking off upset with the shot.
Shoriful Islam celebrates a wicket against the Black Caps. Photo / Photosport
Fill-in skipper Mitchell Santner - Kane Williamson is being rested for the T20 series - helped Neesham steady the ship for a time scoring 23 runs before being caught at mid-wicket by Sarkar. The on-field umpires sent the catch to be reviewed after it looked like it may have bounced but after a lengthy video replay, Santner was sent on his way.
Earlier, Mark Chapman looked promising but was caught at deep cover by Tanzim Hasan Sakib off Rishad Hossain’s bowling after searching for a boundary from a slider on a full-length outside off, scoring 19 off 18. Recent $2 million man Daryl Mitchell looked good early after bagging a massive haul at the Indian Premier League auction but was bowled by Hasan for 14 off 15.
Islam was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh with figures of three wickets for 26 runs from his four overs. Rahman and Hasan excelled too, chipping in two wickets each for 15 and 14 runs respectively from their four overs.
Defending 135 for victory, the Black Caps got off to a good start with Tim Southee catching Rony Talukdar at mid-on for 10 after he skied a delivery from Adam Milne.
Bangladesh looked on top for most of their innings but two quick wickets late rocked the visitors. Santner bagged the breakthrough wicket of Towhid Hridoy in the thirteenth before Southee snared Hossain the following over. The bowler came close to a second a few balls later with an LBW given out before being overturned after it was reviewed by Hasan, leaving Bangladesh with 37 from 30 balls.
Litton Das starred for Bangladesh, scoring a team-high 42. He was joined at the crease by Talukdar (10), Hossain Shato (19), Sarkar (22), ] Hridoy (19), and Hasan (19) who provided valuable runs, while Hossain got dismissed for just one run. Hasan brought up the winning runs with a four.
The two sides meet again at Mount Maunganui for the second and third T20s on Friday and Sunday respectively.
Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.
