Bangladesh fought until the end, gave their all but eventually lost by three wickets against co-hosts New Zealand in their final Pool A match at Seddon Park yesterday. Now, the Tigers will be looking to carry the momentum they gained against the Kiwis in their quarter-final against India this Thursday at MCG.
Despite Mahmudullah’s second consecutive century, the Kiwis reached their destination with three wickets and seven balls in hand. Martin Guptill came up with a hundred of his own as the home side chased down Bangladesh’s 288/7. Tim Southee (12*) and Daniel Vettori (16*) blasted some blooming hits to give the Kiwis their highest successful run chase in the World Cup.
However, it could have been a totally different scenario had skipper Shakib al Hasan (4/55) gave the ball to Rubel Hossain (1/40) in the 49th over. Southee clobbered a maximum and a boundary off successive Shakib deliveries as the high-flying Kiwis registered their first ODI win over Bangladesh since October 2010.
Guptill, earlier, smashed 105 with the help of 11 fours and two sixes while an out-of-form Ross Taylor posted 56. Identical 39-run knocks from Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson, in the meantime, went a long way towards helping the Kiwis to their 10th win in their last 11 ODIs at home.
The Tigers though started well as Shakib dismissed opener Brendon McCullum (8) and Kane Williamson (1) to leave the Kiwis struggling at 33/2. It was upto Guptill and Taylor to lead the recovery act and the third wicket pair did just that, adding 131 runs.
When Guptill departed, the fourth wicket pair of Elliott and Taylor appeared to take the game away before Rubel removed Elliott while Nasir Hossain trapped Taylor plumb in front. The game tilted more in Bangladesh’s favour when Shakib dismissed Luke Ronchi and Nasir cleaned up Anderson.
However, the experienced Vettori and Southee saw the Kiwis home to finally break their seven-match losing streak against the Tigers.
Earlier in the day, the flaws of the Tigers’ top-order were exposed yet again after McCullum invited the Tigers to bat. Imrul Kayes departed for two while Tamim Iqbal made 13, both departing off left-arm seamer Trent Boult (2/56). Boult is now the highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps.
Mahmudullah (128) and Soumya Sarkar (51) arrested the slide, putting on 90 runs for the third wicket. Soumya grabbed his maiden ODI fifty with the help of seven fours before being dismissed off Vettori. Mahmudullah though continued to counter-attack the Kiwi bowlers, clubbing a dozen boundaries and three sixes. He is the second Bangladesh cricketer after Shahriar Nafees to score successive ODI tons and only the eighth batsman to score consecutive World Cup centuries after Sangakkara, Mark Waugh, Dravid, De Villiers, Hayden, Ponting and Saeed Anwar.
By the time he was done, he had accumulated 344 runs in the World Cup, the fourth highest. Sabbir Rahman chipped in with a quickfire 40 off 23 balls as Bangladesh managed 288/7.