New Zealand vs Bangladesh: Lockie Ferguson cleans up Afif Hossain with a toe-crusher

Afif Hossain Dhrubo was impressive in Bangladesh’s batting that looked out-of-touch otherwise during the opening T20I against New Zealand. At the Seddon Park in Hamilton, the left-hander smashed 45 runs off 33 balls with the help of five fours and one six.

The southpaw came to bat at a stage when Ish Sodhi was running through the visitors’ batting.  He witnessed Mahmudullah and Mahedi Hasan perish in quick succession. But his 63-run stand with Mohammad Saifuddin made sure that the Tigers gain some sort of respectability, though Bangladesh lost by 66 runs to go 0-1 down in the three-match series.

Afif Hossain plays a handy knock

Afif’s knock came to an end courtesy of a jaw-dropping Yorker from Lockie Ferguson, who ended up getting two wickets. Afif tried to give himself room and play the ball through the third man region. But he was beaten by Lockie’s pace. The stumps went for a walk and Bangladesh lost their seventh wicket.

After the Tigers lost, Mahmudullah, their skipper, was disappointed with his team’s batting. He also lauded Devon Conway, who managed 92 runs after the Black Caps opted to bat first.

“Bowlers bowled quite well, the youngster bowled well on his debut. Once again, we have let ourselves in the batting dept, kept losing wickets in clusters. We need to pick ourselves up in the second game. He’s (Conway) in very good touch, he has been batting really well. We need to find a way to restrict him,” Mahmudullah said after the game.

Tim Southee, the hosts’ skipper, was happy after the way his side stepped up despite missing out on some experienced names. He feels that the Kiwis don’t have a dearth of talent and a number of other players are also waiting in the wings.

“It was a relatively inexperienced side, but to put up a performance like that was very pleasing. Was pleasing to see Will play so well and also Devon carrying on what he has done at this level. It’s great to see guys come out and perform like this.

“There are a number of guys knocking on the door who are coming out and performing well at this level, that’s a great sign for New Zealand at the moment,” Southee was quoted as saying.