Team Bangladesh's dream to end the winless drought in New Zealand crumbled in the first attempt as the Tigers lost the first of the three-match ODI series against the hosts by eight wickets on Saturday at Dunedin.
New Zealand won the toss and sent in Bangladesh. Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh captain, smashed Trent Boult for a six in the first over of the match, but nothing much went Bangladesh's way since then.
Bangladesh were bundled out for 131 in 41.5 overs. In reply, New Zealand stormed to 132 for two in 21.2 overs and won the game by eight wickets.
Martin Guptill hit 38 off 19 balls with three fours and four sixes. He didn’t give any chance to the Tigers’ bowling attack to settle in.
In the first-wicket stand, New Zealand added 54 runs in just 5.3 overs. Taskin Ahmed, the right-arm pacer of Bangladesh, removed Guptill in his first over. But that was not enough to pose a big challenge to the hosts.
The other wicket that New Zealand lost in the form of the debutant opener Devon Conway was taken by Hasan Mahmud who conceded 49 runs in 4.2 overs.
New Zealand fielded a total of three newbies in this game -- Conway, Daryl Mitchell and William Young.
Earlier, Tamim was trapped lbw by Boult in the fifth over. Soumya Sarkar, who was promoted to number three in the batting order, also got dismissed in the same over, adding nothing to the board.
Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim added 23 runs together in the third wicket stand but the partnership did not last long. Liton soon fell prey to part-timer James Neesham.
Bangladesh got the first of their biggest two partnerships in this game when Mushfiqur and Mohammad Mithun added 27 runs for the fourth wicket.
But an unfortunate dismissal of Mithun broke the partnership. He was, in fact, run out backing up after Mahmudullah's firm straight drive flicked the finger of Neesham right into the stumps of the non-striker's.
Mahedi Hasan and Taskin Ahmed accompanied Mahmudullah in two more partnerships to add 20 and 27 runs on the board, respectively.
Mahedi started well with a six, but he failed to bat longer in his maiden game in New Zealand for the national team.
Off the first ball of the second batting powerplay, Mahumudullah was caught by Mitchel Santer in the mid-wicket area.
Scoring 27 off 64 balls, Mahmudullah was the highest run getter for Bangladesh in this match while Mushfiqur posted 23. None of the other batsmen was able to pass the 20-run mark.
For New Zealand, ace pacer Trent Boult bagged four wickets conceding 27 runs in 8.5 overs, while Neesham and Santer picked up two wickets each.
The remaining two ODIs of this series will be played on March 23 and 26 at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch, and Basin Reserve, Wellington, respectively.
