Rawalpindi has been a happy hunting ground for the tigers, but sloppy catching and ground fielding coupled with 180 dot they faced and could not score off cost them the game.
The Rawalpindi pitch was two paced. Bangladesh made two changes by playing, and giving the nod to Muhamadulla to strengthen the middle order batting and introducing 22 year old speed merchant Nahid Rana to the playing eleven, but guess the trick they missed was not picking the experienced Litton Das as the operner cum glove man for the Champions trophy.
Kiwis had a setback with Darryl Mitchell being benched with illness, but they brought back Rachin Ravindra, who had recovered from a head injury. Kyle Jamison, the tall, lanky fast bowler, was also picked in place of Nathen Smith by the Kiwi think tank to join Matt Henry with the new ball.
Winning the coin toss and inserting Bangladesh to bat first, the black caps skipper Mitchell Santner stated that he preferred bowling first, envisaging dew factor.
Bangladesh opened with two left-handers, Tanzid Hassan and Skipper, and Najmul Shanto.
Kiwi bowling , fielding was world class as their seamers and finger spinners had the tigers on the back foot from the get-go.
Bangladesh did well in the power play overs with Shanto looking composed for a big score , but fellow opener Tanzid Hossain must realise that scoring a flashy 25 runs up the order and throwing your wicket is not good enough.
He let the dark clouds of the land of white clouds infect his team as he gave Michael Bracewell , the New Zealand finger spinner his first victim for his four four , his best bowling figures in the white ball format and that too on subcontinent conditions.
The only man who turned up was skipper Najmul Shanto, who could not bat freely, conceeding too many dot balls for his 77 because his top order failed yet again.
The big question is, are the tigers having a top order virus similar to Sri Lanka having a tail enders virus in all formats .
Mushfiqur Rahim plays an ordinary slog sweep and is dismissed for 2. Muhamadulla feat going nowhere heads back to the hutch for 4 , Towhid Hridoy the Centurian in his last game dismissed for 7 , big debate is he match fit ? The tiger approach on the Rawalpindi pitch in which they beat home team Pakistan in two consecutive Tests suddenly looked a terror to their talented batters.
Jacker Ali made 45 , following his excellent display of batsmanship of 68 against India, taking full advantage of the first ball life he got from Rohit Sharma , hence the com box felt he can bat up the order.
Rishard Hossain, who made 26 lower down the order, helped Jacker Ali. Hence, Bangladesh managed a total of 236 for 9 wickets, conceeding 181 dot balls. This is far too many dotts to script it mildly.
Mehedi Hassan Miraz, who batted at number 3, did not take advantage of his promotion and gave catching practice of a dolly to Mitchell Santner whilst batting on 13 helping William O ‘ Rourke to get among the wickets.
Michael Bracewell 4 for 26 looked like a Muralidharan let loose on a spinning track , William ‘ O Rourke 2 for 48 with sheer pace , Matt Henry Kiwis best seam bowler 1 for 57 , and Kyle Jamison 1 for 48 bowled 181 dot deliveries at Bangladesh with Santner going wicketless for 44.
Bangladesh reached 6 for 172 in the 40th over , made 68 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in the death overs to set New Zealand a target of 237.
New Zealand was in for shock as Will Young heard the sound of his timber in the first over of Taskin Ahmed, whilst debutant the 22-year speed sensation will one day tell his grand children that his first victim in international cricket was Kane Williamson the Premier Kiwi batter.
New Zealand 15 for 2 had a few eyebrows raised . Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra settled the threat to a great extent before Conway was bowled by FIZ for 30 with New Zealand score on 72.
The cruise machine was switched on when Rachin Ravindra and Tom Lathem built a partnership of 129 runs for the 4th wicket with Rachin Ravindra a fantastic 114 , and Tom Lathem a brilliant 55 that got New Zealand within striking distance of 201 for 4 wickets.
At the end of the 40th New Zealand, were 208 for 4 wickets but dragged the game to 46.1 overs to reach the target of 237 for 5 wickets and record a comprehensive win.
New Zealand will address an issue with their death bowling before their final game against India in the league stage at Dubai on Sunday despite both India and New Zealand have qualified for the semi finals from Group ” A” . It is a must issue for New Zealand, who have not been at their best in death overs in comparison to their deciplines in all other departments.
Bangladesh and Pakistan are out of the Silver Wear running, and their next game, against each other, is a dead rubber.
Today, South Africa plays Australia in a Group B game .
