Napier (New Zealand): Bangladesh cricket team inked a historic moment on Wednesday as they defeated New Zealand by five wickets, thanks to an impressive performance from the bowlers. This was Bangladesh's first T20I victory in New Zealand.
Bangladesh elected to field after winning the toss and the bowlers carved an impressive performance to restrict the opposition to 134/9. New Zealand were reduced to 20 for 4 at one stage but Jimmy Neesham played a significant knock of 48 runs but none of the other batters were able to step up with a vital knock to help the team post a decent total.
Left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while left-arm speedster Mustafizur Rahman and off-spinner Mahedi Hasan took two wickets each. A clinical performance from the bowling unit helped Bangladesh restrict New Zealand to a subpar total.
Chasing the total, Bangladesh had a shaky start as they lost opener Rony Talukdar (10) on the team total of 13. However, Litton Das played some magnificent shots with his willow in the latter part of the innings even as wickets kept tumbling form the other end. Das scored unbeaten 42 runs and helped the team secure a victory with five wickets in hand and eight balls to spare.
Mahedi Hasan was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his all-round performance and Bangladesh took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The second game will be played in Mount Maunganui on December 29.
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