NZ v BAN, 3rd T20I Review: New Zealand ride on Corey Anderson's 94* to complete a clean sweep

New Zealand continued their dominating performances over the Bangla Tigers and clinched the T20 series 3-0 at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui today. It was again a thoroughly professional performance by Williamson and Co who outplayed Bangladesh in all 3 departments. Batting first New Zealand posted a massive 194/4 courtesy a brilliant 41 balls 94 of Corey Anderson. Though Bangladesh began well and scored at a brisk pace but the scoreboard pressure kept mounting and they eventually fell 27 runs short of the target. This has perhaps been the most horrendous tour Bangladesh has been part of in the last few years.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and put the hosts in. Openers Kane Williamson and Jimmy Neesham went off to a good start. Neesham struck two delightful boundaries of Mortaza in the first over which set the hosts going and Kane Williamson followed it up with a couple more of Shakib-al-Hasan in the 4th over. Unfortunately, New Zealand lost Jimmy Neesham in the 5th over of Rubel Hossain. It was a full pitched slower delivery and Neesham was early into it. It thudded onto his pads and was given out by the onfield umpire.

Hard-hitting southpaw Colin Munro who scored a fantastic century in the previous match couldn’t sustain his form and striking abilities and was dismissed cheaply in the final delivery of the same over. It was again a slower delivery from Rubel Hossain and Munro failed to pick it. He only managed to sky it straight to the deep square fielder Soumya Sarkar who took a dived forward and snapped the catch. New Zealand again received a jolt when they lost their 3rd wicket in the 6th over. Tom Bruce stepped out to play a big shot but only managed to slice it to the throat of the fielder at sweeper cover.

Corey Andersson joined Kane Williamson in the middle and New Zealand started taking control of proceedings. Despite scoring at a slow run rate the hosts were aware that both the batsmen had the capability to up the ante whenever needed and it was exactly e=what transpired in the last 10 overs of the innings. Especially Corey Anderson took apart the Bangladesh bowlers and started depositing them to nooks and corners of the ground. Anderson struck two monstrous sixes and a four in the 15th over of the innings of Mashrafe Mortaza and followed it up with 3 consecutive sixes in the very next over of Soumya Sarkar. Williamson was eventually dismissed in the penultimate over of the innings but by then he had helped New Zealand to post a challenging total on the board.

Anderson struck two more sixes in the final over of Taskin Ahmed to propel New Zealand’s total to 194/4 in their allotted 20 overs. The swashbuckling left-hander struck 10 sixes and 2 four during his brilliant innings of 94 of 41 deliveries.

Chasing a pretty stiff target to win, Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal began pretty well and stitched together a valuable 44 runs partnership for the opening wicket in quick time. Soumya Sarkar struck Mitchell Santner for two delightful boundaries in the very first over while Tamim Iqbal followed it up with a couple of boundaries in the 3rd over of Trent Boult. Tamim was eventually dismissed of Boult in the 5th over after hitting a monstrous six in the 2mnd delivery of the same over. ‘

Despite the fall of Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar kept going and was joined by Man-in-form Sabbir Rahman in the middle. They played well for their 28 runs partnership for the 2nd wicket but with Bangladesh approaching a position of strength, Soumya Sarkar gave away his wicket in the 9th over in a bid to up the ante. He scored a fluent 42 of 28 deliveries, an innings constructed with 6 hits to the fence. Sabbir Rahman too fell in quick succession of Kane Williamson whose magic arms did wonders for the hosts. It was a nothing shot for Rahman. He attempted a lazy sweep and missed the ball altogether which went and crashed onto the stumps.

With the score at 97/3, the hosts were again taking the match away from the visitors. Their run-rate dipped too and soon lost another wicket in the form of Mahmudullah Riad. While former captain Shakib-Al-Hasan played well for his 41 but the innings was very slow considering the context of the game. Mosaddek Hossain Saikat and Mahmudullah chipped in with 12 and 18 each but that was not enough to get the visitors over the finishing line. Bangladesh eventually finished their allotted 20 overs at the score of 167/6, thus handling New Zealand a comfortable victory by 27 runs. While Soumya Sarkar was the top scorer for Bangladesh, Ish Sodhi was the wrecker-in-chief as far as New Zealand are concerned and finished with impressive figures of 2/22 in his allotted 4 overs.

Brief Scores

New Zealand 194/4 in 20 overs (Corey Anderson 94*, Rubel Hossain 3/31)

Bangladesh 167/6 in 20 overs (Soumya Sarkar 42, Ish Sodhi 2/22)

New Zealand won by 27 runs