Three back-to-back stunners in three days. First Pakistan, then Sri Lanka and now Bangladesh. Three days ago, the favourites had their ways and the underdogs struggled but things have changed quickly in no time and we have the unexpected contenders knocking the doors of a semi-final.
The level of uncertainty gradually kept increasing from Pakistan beating South Africa to Sri Lanka shocking India and now Bangladesh handing New Zealand embarrassing defeat by 5 wickets at Cardiff.
Just a few weeks ago, Bangladesh clinched their first overseas win, a historic feat, in Ireland. Soon, they again found themselves pitted against each other in a ‘do or die ‘ Group A’ encounter. But, this time New Zealand had strong backers who felt that the boosted side would thwart the weaker looking opposition easily.
However, things weren’t all bright and sunny for the Blackcaps on the match day as they first disappointed with the bat and later with the ball.
After choosing to bat first, New Zealand managed just 265/8 in 50 overs despite solid knocks from skipper Kane Williamson (57 from 69 balls) and Ross Taylor (63 from 82 balls). The middle order once again failed to get the best out of the platform formed by the Williamson – Taylor duo and flunked in the final overs.
Bangladesh, in response, suffered an early jolt as Tim Southee (3/45) reduced them to 12/3 and later Adam Milne (1/48) further brought them down to 33/4. However, their early setback was resurrected in some grand style or say in match-winning style to be precise.
Shakib-Al-Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad came together and 224 runs stand for the 5th wicket spanning 34.5 overs at a run rate of 6.43 to push the Blackcaps to the corners and seal the fate of the match their team’s favour. The stand between Shakib and Mahmudullah is the highest for a Bangladeshi pair beating the record for the previous best of 178 held by the Tamim Iqbal- Mushfiqur Rahim pair set against Australia in 2015.
Shakib-Al-Hasan was adjudged the Man of the Match for his contributions. Here is what he had to say in the post-match presentation:
“As Mahmudullah said we did not talk. We did not want to chase that down. We just wanted to bat 40 overs and see where we were. Winning a match in an ICC tournament in a big thing. From here on, we can only go forward.”