CT 2017: Match 9, Who Said What: New Zealand vs Bangladesh

For the third time in three days, the underdogs have defeated the favourites in the ICC Champions Trophy. Not many gave a chance to the Bangladesh side when they took on a stronger New Zealand side today at Cardiff. Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first. After a good start from Ross Taylor and their skipper, New Zealand lost their way during the last 10 overs of their innings.

Bangladesh bowlers were magnificent when it mattered and Mossadek Hossain went on to claim three wickets in the three overs he bowled, which took the Kiwis out of contention for posting a daunting total. Taskin Ahmed also impressed with the ball as Bangladesh restricted the Kiwis to a total of 266 by the end of 50 overs.

However, Bangladesh had no answer to possibly the best spell in the tournament from Tim Southee, who blew away the top order of Bangladesh with his swing. The Tigers were reduced to 33-4 and that’s when the world saw one of the most historic partnerships in cricket history. Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah put on a mammoth century of over 200 runs to win the match for their side from nowhere. Shakib was elected as the man of the match for his outstanding century under pressure.

Shakib Al Hasan

Man of the match, Shakib Al Hasan stated that not too much of talking was going around when the duo were batting in the middle. Not even the necessary target came across their heads but they kept focussing on playing together without giving away their wicket. The southpaw concluded by saying that winning at major ICC tournament will always be special

As Mahmudullah said, we did not talk much. We just said ‘keep going’. We did not think of the target and just wanted to bat 40 overs and see where we were. The good thing was that we handled the swinging ball well and when there were balls to hit, we hit them. Winning a match in an ICC tournament is a big thing and we have come a long way in the last two years. From here on we can only go forward.

Mahmudullah

The other hero of Bangladesh confirmed that the duo did not have any plan but focussed on staying at the crease for long. They were only focussing on seeing off the new swinging ball. He later added that once the ball lost its shine, it became easier for him and Shakib to play their shots. The finisher for Bangladesh boasted about the fact that even after losing their form player early, Bangladesh was able to win the match handsomely.

The best part was that we did not talk too much. We were just batting and enjoying each other’s company out in the middle. It was a struggle in the earlier part where we stayed calm when the ball was swinging. Once it stopped it became easier and credit to Shakib for the way he batted. Tamim batted superbly in this tournament. He got a hundred and almost a hundred against Australia. Losing him early on was quite a shock but Shakib and I had a good partnership. We were just looking for bad balls and kept hitting them away and keep looking for gaps to take singles.

Mashrafe Mortaza

An exceptionally proud Bangladesh skipper came in an expressed about his feelings about being a part of two of the greatest wins in ODI cricket at the same ground. Mortaza praised his bowlers for making a comeback into the tournament after facing the wrath of the English blade.

It’s a great feeling. Both times I’ve been here (talking about the wins in Cardiff). First, against Australia. And now New Zealand. Overall we are very much satisfied. If you take the first match, we weren’t up to the mark. 305 we couldn’t stop. But today bowlers hit the right area. We got wickets in patches.

Mortaza praised the efforts of Mossadek who turned the game around for his side. He signed off by commending the efforts of the two titans of Bangladesh cricket who have been responsible for a turnaround in World Cricket for the Asian side

The three overs from Mosaddek were very crucial. The thinking was that he had got Neesham and Corey out previously and they had to hit in the bigger side. Once those left-handers came in, it was the obvious decision for me. The way Shakib and Mahmudullah played, it was out of the world. We knew it was difficult, but we got confidence from when we beat them in Ireland.

Kane Williamson

The losing captain was confident about the fact that 260+ was a competitive total had the bowlers bowled well. But he was surprised the way the duo batted and applauded their efforts for bringing their side back into the game. Williamson concluded by saying that had they scored an additional 35 runs, it would have been a different proposition.

To be fair, on that surface we felt it was a scrappy total to get. If we bowled well, we could make it difficult. The boys were outstanding with the new ball. But we left a few runs out there. Long way from a perfect performance today. Credit to the way Bangladesh played. That partnership from Shakib and Mahmudullah was simply superb. Something around 285-290 would have been very competitive. Fairly similar surface to the previous game we played on, even though it was a new one.