Bangladesh’s misery with the bat continued in their final ODI ahead of the World Cup, as the hosts got bundled out for a meagre 171 in 34.2 overs against New Zealand in the third and final ODI of the series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto top scored with a commanding 76 off 84 balls while the other Bangladeshi batters threw away their wickets on a good batting pitch.
Kiwi pacer Adam Milne ruled the roost with 4-34 while Trent Boult and Cole McConchie also claimed a couple of wickets each.
Bangladesh’s batting has been on a downward spiral ahead of the World Cup as the Tigers have now gotten all out in five of their last seven ODIs.
This time around, new captain Shanto had opted to bat first on a good batting surface.
Debutant Zakir Hasan and Tanzid hasan Tamim opened the innings but they didn’t hang around for too long. The debutant fell victim to a yorker from Adam Milne for one and Tanzid edged a ball from Boult to the slip for five.
Towhid Hridoy also departed for just 18, playing a loose shot off Milne to get caught by Will Young as Bangladesh lost their third wickets inside six overs.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Shanto then added 53 runs for the fourth wicket before the former got out for 18 in a rather comical manner.
Mushfiq defended a short ball from Lockie Ferguson which took an inside edge and was heading towards the wickets. Mushfiq tried to kick the ball away from his stumps but ended up kicking the bails himself.
Shanto and Mahmudullah then added 49 runs to take the score past 100. Just when Bangladesh were looking like setting up a base for the final overs, Mahmudullah poked at a away moving ball from Milne which went straight into the gloves of the keeper. Mahmudullah made 21 off 27 balls in his second innings after returning to the ODI squad.
After losing his fifth partner Mahedi Hasan (13), Shanto, who had hit 10 fours in his first innings after coming back from injury, got trapped LBW by Cole McConchie to depart as the seventh Bangladesh batter.
Bangladesh scored just three runs for the last three wickets and were bundled out for an embarrassing total.
New Zealand now just need 172 runs to seal their first ODI series win in Bangladesh since 2008.