New Zealand secured a scintillating 52 runs win over Bangladesh in a low-scoring thriller here at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. After lagging behind by 0-2 in the series, Tom Latham led side opted to bat and managed to post a decent total of 128/5 courtesy to Tom Blundell (30* off 30) and H Nicholls (36* off 29) after the top-order collapse. However, what seemed to be a below-par total turned out to be way too against Ajaz Patel’s brilliant four-fer as the hosts folded up at 76/10 in 19.4 overs. Patel picked up the prized scalps of Shakib Al Hasan, skipper Mahmudullah along with Mahedi Hasan and Afif Hossain as he ripped apart Bangladesh’s middle order. The Kiwi spinner returned with impressive figures of 4-16 in his four overs.
“You thrive on conditions like these and you take responsibility in these conditions and I thought all our bowlers bowled brilliantly and did a great job in getting wickets. Rachin bowled brilliantly and we had that communication going and our seamers well, this is not the easiest conditions to bowl and they did well. I had conversations with Dan (Vettori) earlier and he gave me a bit of clarity on what the conditions here are like,” said Ajaz Patel, the man of the match, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
The series now rests 2-1 with two games to spare. Bangladesh will be looking to bounce back and seal the series while New Zealand will be going all guns blazing to build on some momentum and level the series when both teams will face each other in the 4th T20I on Wednesday, September 08.
