New Zealand carried on to their fantastic form and recorded the third consecutive win in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 against Bangladesh at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, India on Friday.
Captain Kane Williamson — who marked his return to ODI cricket after a long time following knee surgery — scored an unbeaten 78-run knock and helped his side record a crucial eight-wicket win that saw them going all the way to the top of the points table.
However, in the 39th over, Williamson retired hurt as the ball hit his thumb while he was crossing the wicket in the previous over.
Chasing the target of 246 runs, the Kiwis had their fair share of struggle at the start as they had not just lost the opener Rachin Ravindra, but were also finding it difficult to score runs as they were 37-1 in the first 10 overs.
However, Williamson and Devon Conway held forces together and accelerated the innings but the latter fell prey to Shakib Al Hasan for 45 runs as he was trying to play a reverse sweep.
Despite losing his counterpart, Kane kept going and built an astounding 108-run stand with Daryl Mitchell, who top-scored for New Zealand scoring 89 runs at an impressive 132.83 strike rate.
Mitchell played the winning shot for his side as he sealed a significant win for the Black Caps with 43 balls to spare.
Batting first, Bangladesh met with early blows, losing their four batters for just 56 runs in 12.1 overs and were on their way to an early collapse.
However, a 96-run partnership between the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib provided the much-needed stability with the former scoring 66, while the latter contributed to 40 runs.
After the two experienced batters departed, another veteran, Mahmudullah provided some late runs to his side and took his team to a competitive 245-run total on the tricky wicket of Chennai.
Lockie Ferguson picked three wickets to his name, Matt Henry and Trent Boult got two each while Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phlipps took one each.
Bangladesh will play their next game against India on October 19 in Mumbai while the Black Caps will play Afghanistan on October 18 at the same venue.
