Whatever the outcome of the series, eyes will be on preparations just before the World Cup. However, that series did not go well for Bangladesh. After the second ODI, Bangladesh also lost the third ODI. New Zealand won by a huge margin of 7 wickets. And Bangladesh lost the series by 2-0. After 15 years, the team had to taste the bitter taste of losing the series at home to the Kiwis.
Batting has been suffering for Bangladesh for the last few days. Suffered even today. The team could only set a target of 172 runs in front of New Zealand. New Zealand topped it with 7 wickets in hand.
The two Kiwi openers, Finn Allen and Will Young, got off to a good start with modest targets in front of them. Shariful broke the opening pair of 49 runs. Next ball Dean shows Foxcroft the way to dressing room too. In that, Bangladesh was dreaming of fighting even with modest capital.
But that dream faded in front of the duo of Young and Henry Nichols. The two added 81 runs for the third wicket. The match practically ended there. Young's 70 was returned by Nasum Ahmed when New Zealand were 40 runs away from victory.
With a fifty, Henry Nicholls saw off the remainder of the innings, accompanied by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell for 23 runs. New Zealand ended the match winning by 7 wickets.
Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat. But in the second over of the innings, the anointed Zakir Hasan got back by 1 run. In the next over, the other opener Tanjid Hasan Tamim also failed with the bat once again and returned for 5 runs.
Tawhid Hridiya, who lost 2 wickets out of 8 runs, gave away his own wicket while playing on the contrary. With two experienced cricketers Mushfiqur Rahim (18) and Mahmudullah Riyad (21), Shanto handled the initial shock by averaging 53 and 49 runs for the fourth and fifth wickets respectively. Shanto picked up his 5th 50 in his ODI career. At the same time, he also wrote a new record for the highest runs scored on his debut as a captain in ODIs for Bangladesh.
But despite the calm and great batting at one end, the procession continued at the other end. Due to the lack of a partner, he also broke his resistance at some point. He was trapped leg before while reverse-sweeping a delivery from Kiwi spinner Cole McConnie. The team's highest 76 runs came from his bat before going back.
Bangladesh lost the last three wickets within three runs after the team recovered to 167 runs. Kiwi pacer Adam Milne destroyed Bangladesh's batting order with 4 wickets for 34 runs.