CHENNAI: A captain’s knock of 78 (retired hurt) by Kane Williamson and an unbeaten 89 by Daryl Mitchell propelled New Zealand to an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in the ICC World Cup match played at the MA Chidambaram stadium here under lights on Friday. The duo added 108 runs in 109 balls for the unfinished third wicket. Kane Williamson was struck on the left thumb while taking a sharp single and had to retire. With this win, New Zealand are on top of the points table with six points.
Chasing 246 for a win New Zealand had a sedate start with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra playing cautiously. The latter, one of the two centurions from the opening game against England, soon departed. Williamson joined Conway and the duo slowly went about the task in a composed manner. Williamson played to the merit of the ball and was at ease with all the Bangladeshi bowlers. Only when confident, he stepped out and used his feet deftly to loft Mehidy Miraz and others for a boundary. Williamson played with responsibility and also lifted his game to negate the asking rate.
Conway (45), when he was well set for a big innings, went for a reverse paddle shot, missed the line to be trapped in front by Shakib. Earlier, riding on Mushfiqur Rahim’s 66 off 75 balls and useful contributions from Shakib (40) Mahmudullah (41 not out), Bangladesh posted 245 for 9. Mushfiqur could play both the Kiwi speedsters and spinners with equitable ease. On the other hand, Shakib, due to pressure, could not play freely.
Brief scores: B’desh 245/9 in 50 ovs (Rahim 66, Mahmudullah n.o 41; Boult 2/45, Ferguson 3/49) lost to NZ 248/2 in 42.5 ovs (Williamson retd hurt 78, Mitchell n.o 89).