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New Zealand will be taking on Bangladesh in the third and final encounter of the three-match T20I series at the Eden Park in Auckland on Thursday (April 1).
After dominating the opening encounter of the series in Hamilton, the hosts faced the tourists in the rain-marred second game in Napier in the previous match.
The 2nd T20I on Tuesday (March 30) saw New Zealand piled on a massive 173/5 in 17.5 overs during their rain-interrupted innings after losing the toss and being asked to bat first by Bangladesh.
The visitors took wickets at regular intervals in the earlier part of the innings, with New Zealand’s in-form batsmen such as Martin Guptill (21), Devon Conway (15), Will Young (14) and even Guptill’s fellow opener Finn Allen (17) getting starts but not playing a substantial knock.
The innings of great substance came from Glenn Phillips (58*) and Daryl Mitchell (34*), who helped their team recover from a difficult situation and eventually post an intimidating total. Phillips’ superb half-century was laced with five fours and two sixes, while Mitchell’s stay saw him blaze his willow for six fours.
Nasum Ahmed, who was the pick of the Bangladeshi bowlers in the first T20I, delivered another fine spell of 0/25. Shoriful Islam (1/16) also proved very economical in his spell and picked up the prized scalp of Conway, who had dominated the visitors’ attack in the previous match.
Apart from those two, however, Bangladeshi bowlers once again failed to put the breaks on run-scoring, as Mohammad Saiffudin (1/35), Taskin Ahmed (1/49) and Mahedi Hasan (2/45), although among the wickets, did prove very expansive throughout. If the visitors were to have any chance of restricting the lengthy Kiwi batting unit to a manageable score, they needed their bowlers to up their game and stitched together good balls more consistently.
With that not happening, the Asian rivals were again required to chase down a difficult target against Black Caps’ skillful and robust bowling attack.
In the run-chase, where the target was adjusted to 171 from 16 overs, Bangladesh lost opener Liton Das (6) very early, before Mohammad Naim (38) and Soumya Sarkar (51) batted superbly during a second-wicket partnership of 81 runs. Sarkar, especially, looked fluent throughout his knock and ended with a memorable half-century. However, once those two went, the visitors lost their way and eventually finished with a total of 142/7 only, 28 runs less than New Zealand on the D/L method.
Stand-in captain Tim Southee (2/21), Adam Milne (2/34), Hamish Bennett (2/31) and Phillips (1/20) were among the wickets for New Zealand in the second half.
Having flexed their muscles to a win once again, the Kiwis will be raring to continue in the same vein in the final match of the series and their home international summer.
Key Players
Devon Conway missed out in the 2nd T20I and made only 15 runs. But in the encounter previous to that, the New Zealand batsman played a fantastic knock of 92 runs off 52 balls, including eleven fours and three sixes. Conway’s innings helped New Zealand win by 66 runs and he was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’. The 29-year-old, who became eligible to play for New Zealand last year after moving from South Africa, has a stellar record to his name in T20Is. Conway has scored 458 runs at an average of 65.42 and strike-rate of 150.65 from 12 matches for his adopted country.
Glenn Phillips struck a magnificent half-century in the 2nd T20I. He made an unbeaten 58 off just 31 balls, blazing his willow to all parts of the ground in Napier in an innings that included five fours and two sixes. With his knock, Phillips only enhanced his career record for New Zealand in T20Is. The 24-year-old right-hand batsman from Auckland has now batted in 23 T20Is for New Zealand with 434 runs at a strike-rate of 144.18 while averaging 25.52.
Nasum Ahmed has been the stand-out Bangladeshi bowler in the ongoing T20I series. After delivering a spell of 2/30 in the first match, he ended with figures of 0/25 in the second. At a time when New Zealand have found life quite easy against most Bangladesh bowlers, Ahmed has been terrific in being able to keep a tight leash on run-scoring in what is his debut T20I series. Ahmed’s ability to keep the batsman in check on flat pitches shouldn’t really be surprising as he has an economy rate of only 7.00 in his overall T20 career so far.
Soumya Sarkar batted magnificently in the 2nd T20I in Napier. The elegant left-hand batsman produced a quickfire half-century to put the Kiwis under pressure at the start of the run-chase. Sarkar scored 51 runs off just 27 deliveries, including five fours and three sixes. In this form, the 28-year-old leftie will be a danger man for New Zealand in the third and final game of the series.
Prediction
New Zealand have shown through the ODI series as well as the first two T20Is that they are side so much better balanced and resolved across all departments than Bangladesh in their home conditions.
The Kiwis have stitched together five comfortable wins against their visitors from the Asian subcontinent.
With the opposition struggling to compete, the hosts will surely start off as favourites in this game as well. They look set to finish with a 3-0 T20I series whitewash over Bangladesh.
