CWC 2023, BAN vs NZ: New Zealand make it three in three; Williamson back in runs

CWC 2023, Bangladesh vs New Zealand: Lockie Ferguson's 3-49, Mushfiqur Rahim's 66 and Kane Williamson-Daryl Mitchell's 108-run stand are top performances. New Zealand beat Bangladesh and move to top of the points table.

New Zealand beat Bangladesh (Photo: ©Blackcaps/Twitter)

Brief Scores: NZ 248/2 (Mitchell 89*, Willamson 78*, Mustafizur 1/36) beat BAN 245/9 (Rahim 66, Shakib 40, Ferguson 3/49) by eight wickets.

Player of the Match: Lockie Ferguson (3/49).

Confident New Zealand, on the back of their two consecutive victories, locked horns with Bangladesh, who came to this game after a heavy defeat against England, for the 11th game of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

In five ODI World Cup encounters between them, the Blackcaps have won all the games.

Talking point: New Zealand looks balanced and settled side in all departments

The three victories at the start of the competition have displayed how balanced New Zealand has been in both batting and bowling. All their three pacers could come and bowl in all three phases, while Rachin Ravindra has given them stability with few overs with the ball besides opening the batting. Even Mitchell Santner, coming at number eight, would also offer them a long batting.

All-round New Zealand moves to the top with three consecutive victories

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, on return, won the toss and opted to bowl first on a good-looking batting surface. Bangladesh dropped Mehedi Hasan to bring Mahmudullah Riyad; Will Young made way for Williamson.

Since losing a wicket in the first ball of the game, Bangladesh struggled at 57/4 in 13 overs before the 96-run fifth wicket partnership rescued them to 152/5 in 30 overs. Mushfiqur Rahim’s 66-run knock and Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 41 runs advanced them to 245/9 in their allotted 50 overs.

New Zealand lost an early wicket in the chase, but the 80-run second wicket stand kept them in the hunt, taking them to 123/2 at the halfway mark. The unbeaten 108-run third wicket stand progressed them to 221/2 in 40 overs before going over the line with eight wickets in hand in 42.5 overs.

Read More: CWC 2023, NZ vs NED: Santner's fifer, top-order's clinical batting gifts Kiwis second win

The top three performances from the New Zealand and Bangladesh games

Ferguson gets player of the match for his 3-49 (Photo: ©Blackcaps/Twitter)

Ferguson made Bangladesh struggle with 3/49

Lockie Ferguson, the second-highest wicket-taker of the 2019 ODI World Cup with 21 wickets, made Bangladesh struggle with his pace and bounce. In his very first over, he sent back Tanzid Hasan (16), who chipped the ball straight into the hands of the square-leg fielder.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz (30) looked to pull Ferguson’s short ball, only to find the deep square leg fielder. Coming back into his seventh over, he broke the 96-run fifth wicket stand with the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan (40), who top-edged the short ball and ended in the hands of the wicket-keeper.

Ferguson finished with figures of 3/49 in 10 overs to now have 92 ODI scalps in 60 games.

Rahim’s 66-run knock settled Bangladesh from early disaster

With 57/4 at the start of the 14th over, Bangladesh was struggling even to play their full 50 overs. Their two pillars. Rahim and Shakib stood tall in the middle. Rahim slog-swept Glen Philips into the mid-wicket stand before guiding him through third man for a boundary.

With upper-cutting Ferguson for a four, Rahim celebrated his 48th ODI fifty in 52 balls as he put up a 96-run fifth wicket stand with Shakib. With his 66-run knock, thanks to six boundaries and two sixes, Rahim made his way to 7525 ODI runs in 242 ODI innings.

Read More: CWC 2023, ENG vs NZ: Ravindra, Conway's blitzkreig ensures a 9-wicket victory for New Zealand

Record 108-run third wicket stand took NZ close to victory

All eyes were on Kane Williamson and how he would bat after coming back from an injury. He took all the time to get used to the tough conditions before nailing Shoriful Islam for two back-to-back boundaries.

Dancing down the track, Willamson chipped Shakib over mid-wicket for a six before punching him over the mid-on fielder for a boundary to notch up his 43rd ODI fifty. He waited back, pulling Mehidy to beat the long leg for another boundary. With another finger injury, he left the field on 78* to now have 6633 ODI runs in 154 innings.

Mitchell showed wild batting from the start, hammering Taskin Ahmed over mid-wicket for a four before sweeping Shakib over deep square leg for a six to bring up his 4th ODI fifty in 43 balls. He launched Taskin over long-on for a beautiful six before smacking him for two back-to-back fours. He finished on 89* to now have 1162 runs in 32 ODIs as the 108-run stand took close to victory.

Statistical highlights from New Zealand vs Bangladesh, CWC 2023

• Trent Boult becomes the third quickest (107 matches) to reach 200 ODI wickets.

• Boult now has the third most wickets (591) for New Zealand across all three formats behind Daniel Vettori & Tim Southee.

• The 96-run fifth wicket stand between Rahim & Shakib is the second-highest ODI fifth wicket stand for Bangladesh against NZ.

• The 96-run fifth wicket stand between Rahim & Shakib is the highest fifth-wicket stand for Bangladesh against NZ in ODI WCs.

• Rahim and Shakib now have the second most partnership runs (972) in ODI World Cups behind Adam Gilchrist & Matthew Hayden (1270).

• The unbeaten 108-run third wicket stand between Williamson and Mitchell is now the third highest 3rd third wicket stand for NZ against BAN in ODIs.

Points table after NZ vs BAN game

Points table scenario & what’s to come

With six points, NZ moves to the top position with an NRR of +1.604.

In the blockbuster game of the tournament, two arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, will take on each other on October 14 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

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