New Zealand crush Bangladesh, top Group 2 in WT20

KOLKATA: Bangladesh were bundled out for 70, their lowest total in Twenty20 Internationals, as New Zealand recorded their fourth consecutive victory in Group Two of the World Twenty20 here at Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Chasing 146, Bangladesh batsmen could not resist against New Zealand bowlers and were all out for 70 in 15.4 overs.

Only three batsmen could get into the double-figures as the highest individual score was 16 not out, by Shuvagata Hom.

Pace bowler Grant Elliott and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi claimed three wickets each for 12 and 21, respectively.

Earlier, New Zealand managed to score 145 for eight despite a remarkable bowling performance by left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who captured five wickets for just 22 runs in his four overs.

These were his best bowling figures in T20 Internationals and also the best for any bowler in this World T20. This is the second best bowling performance by any Bangladeshi bowler after Ilyas Sunny’s five for 13.

The main scorers for New Zealand were Williamson (42), Colin Munro (35) and Ross Taylor (28).

Bangladesh’s previous lowest total was also against New Zealand  - 78 in Hamilton in 2010.

New Zealand had played their first three Super 10s matches at three different venues and had read all those conditions perfectly. They came to Kolkata and did it again, to go into the semi-finals with a clean sheet.

So New Zealand go into the semis with four wins, and Bangladesh go home with four defeats.