Playing his first competitive international game in nearly seven months after knee surgery, Kane Williamson did what he does best — shepherd a tricky chase with a masterly knock (78 retd. hurt, 108b, 8x4, 1x6) as New Zealand completed an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
In pursuit of 246, the Black Caps lost opener Rachin Ravindra early before Williamson and Devon Conway weathered a fine spell of pace bowling by the left-arm seamers Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam.
Uncharacteristic pitch
On an uncharacteristic Chepauk pitch that was more friendly to the seamers with bounce and pace, Williamson was cautious at the beginning before he wielded his trademark strokes. He started with a cut over point before a backfoot punch through covers off Shoriful to get going after being two off 19 balls at one point.
From there on, it was a typical Williamson knock, with deft late cuts, paddles over fine leg and use of feet to loft Shakib Al Hasan over the leg-side.
However, the New Zealand skipper retired hurt when he copped a blow on his left thumb from a throw at the bowler’s end while completing a single.
He hung around for an over before walking off in pain, but not before he had put his side firmly in the driver’s seat with a 108-run stand (109 balls) with Daryl Mitchell for the third wicket.
Mitchell rode his luck initially — his mistimed slices either falling short or out of reach of fielders on the ropes — to finish with an unbeaten 89 (67b, 6x4, 4x6) to seal New Zealand’s third consecutive win of the World Cup.
Earlier, electing to field first, New Zealand restricted Bangladesh to 245 for nine, thanks to Lockie Ferguson’s fiery spell (three for 49) of fast bowling in which he used the short-pitched stuff to good effect.
Bangladesh started poorly, losing Litton Das off the first ball to Trent Boult before Ferguson struck twice in quick succession as the Asian team slumped to 56 for four.
He first had Tanzid Hasan flicking a half-volley to square leg before bouncing out Mehidy Hasan Miraz, caught at fine-leg, attempting a pull.
Mushfiqur Rahim (66) bailed his side out with a fine half-century and stitched a 96-run stand with Shakib. But Ferguson struck again to bounce out the Bangladesh skipper.
Later, Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 41 helped the Tigers get to just about par score, but it was not enough to avoid a second straight defeat.
Scores:
Bangladesh: Litton Das c Henry b Boult 0 Tanzid Hasan c Conway b Ferguson 16 Mehidy Hasan Miraz c Henry b Ferguson 30 Najmul Hossain Shanto c Conway b Phillips 7 Shakib Al Hasan c Latham b Ferguson 40 Mushfiqur Rahim b Henry 66 Towhid Hridoy c Santner b Boult 13 Mahmudullah not out 41 Taskin Ahmed c Mitchell b Santner 17 Mustafizur Rahman c Latham b Henry 4 Shoriful Islam not out 2 Extras: (LB-1, NB-4, W-4) 9 Total: (For 9 wickets in 50 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-40, 3-56, 4-56, 5-152, 6-175, 7-180, 8-214, 9-225 Bowling: Trent Boult 10-0-45-2, Matt Henry 10-0-58-2, Lockie Ferguson 10-0-49-3, Mitchell Santner 10-1-31-1, Glenn Phillips 2-0-13-1, Rachin Ravindra 7-0-37-0, Daryl Mitchell 1-0-11-0.
New Zealand: Devon Conway lbw b Shakib Al Hasan 45 Rachin Ravindra c Mushfiqur Rahim b Mustafizur Rahman 9 Kane Williamson retired hurt 78 Daryl Mitchell not out 89 Glenn Phillips not out 16 Extras: (LB-1, W-10) 11 Total: (For 2 wickets in 42.5 overs) 248 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-92, 2-200 Bowling: Mustafizur Rahman 8-0-36-1, Shoriful Islam 7.5-1-43-0, Taskin Ahmed 8-0-56-0, Shakib Al Hasan 10-0-54-1, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 9-0-58-0.
Teams
Bangladesh: Litton Das (wk), Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shakib Al Hasan(c), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.
New Zealand: Devon Conway (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
