<p>Bangladesh once again showed lots of character in their 3-wicket defeat against top ranked Pool A team New Zealand in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 match here at Seddon Park ground on Friday. The subcontinent team almost showed the Kiwis their first defeat in the tournament as they had sent back all the frontline batsmen back to pavilion while chasing down the competitive target of 288 runs. Losing the toss, Bangladesh had to come into bat first on a live wicket. They also got off to a bad start as their openers returned to the pavilion when they had just added 27 runs on the board in 9.4 overs. But Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah went on to complete their half-century and hundred respectively to lead their team to a comfortable situation. While Sarkar fell after completing a sensible 51 off 58 with 7 fours, Mahmudullah played exceptionally well to score 128 runs off 123 balls hitting 12 fours and 3 sixes. He remained unbeaten at the end of the innings. Stand-in skipper Shakib Al Hasan scored a well made 23 off 18 balls. However, Sabbir Rahman (40 off 23, 5 fours, 2 sixes) played a belligerent cameo later in the innings to raise his team’s total to 288/7 in 50 overs. Trent Boult, Corey Anderson and Grant Elliot bagged 2 wickets each though Elliot went a little expensive in his 2 overs spending 27 runs. Daniel Vettori also got 1 wicket. Chasing down a big target at their home ground, New Zealand also couldn’t get a good start as flamboyant Brendon McCullum (8 off 8) and very sensible Kane Williamson (1) departed early in the innings, leaving New Zealand struggling at 33/2 in 4.5 overs. However, opener Martin Guptill kept going and scored a splendid ton slamming 105 runs off 100 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes. He partnered the his innings with Ross Taylor (56 off 97), who looked a little uncomfortable at the crease and finding his touch. Meanwhile, Grant Elliot also came to the crease for sometime during which he scored 39 off 34. Corey Anderson was looking to finish off the formalities in a hurry when he was cleaned up by Nasir Hossain at 39 off 26. He slammed 3 fours and 3 sixes, but got out trying to play a undisciplined sweep at a very crucial situation of the match. Well, the experienced Daniel Vettori (16* off 10, 1 four, 1 six) and Tim Southee (12 off 6, 1 four, 1 six) led their team out of the increasing trouble by finishing off the match with few big shots. The match finished in Kiwis’ favour with 7 balls remaining. Shakib Al Hasan was the most successful bowler for Bangladesh as he claimed 4 wickets, while Nasir Hossain 2 and Rubel Hossain plucked 1 in their respective spells. With this win, New Zealand became the first team to clinch victory in all 6 Pool matches, while India will explore the same opportunity in Pool B tomorrow against Zimbabwe. Bangladesh has also already qualified for the quarterfinals by ousting England of the tournament. Bangladesh has won 3 off their 6 matches while one of them was washed off because of heavy rain.</p>
