Bangladesh beat New Zealand by six wickets in the fourth match on Wednesday clinching their first T20I series sweep against the Kiwis at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Tigers scripted their historic win with one match to play in the five-match series. It came not long after Bangladesh stunned Australia by wrapping for the first time a five-match T20I series against them 4-1 at the same stadium.
Bangladesh won the first match of the series by seven wickets, the second match by four runs, but they lost the third by 52 runs. They came back strongly in the fourth match, making their third win in the series.
It was Bangladesh’s first T20I series win against the Blackcaps. Before this series, Bangladesh took on the Kiwis in 10 matches but failed to win any of them.
On Wednesday New Zealand won the toss and posted only 93 while batting first. In reply, Bangladesh chased down the target of 94 in 19.1 overs with six wickets in hand.
Mahmudullah Riyad, the T20I captain and Afif Hossain remained unbeaten for 43 and 6 respectively.
Bangladesh lost the first wickets in the third over, and subsequently, they lost two more wickets in quick succession. Liton Das (6), Shakib Al Hasan (8) and Mushfiqu Rahim (0) failed to shine with the bat.
Tigers record maiden T20I series win vs New Zealand
It was Mushfiq’s second duck in the series. The wicketkeeper-batsman has been struggling with the bat for a while now.
For New Zealand, Ajaz Patel took two wickets while Colin de Grandhomme bagged one.
Earlier New Zealand once again failed to have a good start as they lost the first wicket before posting anything to the board.
New Zealand had made two changes in their playing XI in this match. They broke the winning combination overlooking Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn to pave way for Blair Ticker and Hamish Bennett.
Nasum removed Rachin Ravindra off the fifth ball of the first over. Inside the power play, New Zealand also lost their second wicket.
Finn Allen (12), Tom Latham (21) and Will Young (46) did well with the bat, but after their departure, the other New Zealand batsmen failed to continue with the good batting.
During the 12th over, Nasum removed Henry Nicholls and Colen de Grandhomme for one and a duck respectively. The last five of the New Zealand batsmen scored only 11 runs. In the last over, Mustafizur removed Will Young and Blair Tickner with two consecutive deliveries.
While Nasum bagged four for 10, his best in the format, Mustafizur scalped 4 for 12. Mahedi Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin bagged one wicket each.
The fifth match of the series will take place on September 10 at the same venue.
Source: United News of Bangladesh