BD claim historic victory over NZ in first T20

NAPIER: Bangladesh claimed an 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 allrounder Mahedi Hasan, who finished 19 not out, to hit the winning runs in his partnership of 40 alongside Das with eight balls spare.