MATCH REPORT
Follow UsTom Latham's heroic knock of 65 not out was not enough as Bangladesh beat New Zealand by four runs in the second T20I on Friday to go 2-0 up in the five-match series at the Shere Bangla Stadium.
After electing to bat, Bangladesh openers Mohammad Naim (39 off 39 balls) and Liton Das (33 from 29 balls) put on a solid 59 for the first wicket when spinner Rachin Ravindra sent back Das and Mushfiqur Rahim for a duck off consecutive balls. Shakib Al Hasan (12 off 7 balls) and Afif Hossain (3) didn't last long as Kiwi spinners Cole McConchie and Ajaz Patel struck at regular intervals. Skipper Mahmudullah then played a valuable knock of 37 from 32 balls which powered Bangladesh to 141/6 in 20 overs.
After being dismissed for their joint-lowest T20I total of 60 in the first match, New Zealand began the chase nervously losing openers Ravindra (10 off 9 balls) and Tom Blundell (6 off 8 balls) in the power play. Skipper Latham then added 43 runs in 47 balls for the third wicket with Will Young (22 off 28 balls) as Bangladesh spinners bowled with discipline to steepen the chase. Nasum Ahmed sent back a frustrated Colin de Grandhomme (8 from 10 balls) in the 15th over while Mahedi Hasan dismissed Henry Nicholls (6 off 8 balls) in the next over to put the visitors under pressure.
With 36 runs needed from the final three overs, McConchie combined with Latham to bring down the equation to 20 required off the final over. McConchie and Latham ran a hard three, a single and a two off Mustafizur's final three balls, Latham managed to send the pacer's beamer to the boundary off the penultimate ball. Latham flicked the free-hit for a couple of leg-byes and with six needed off the final ball, Mustafizur gave away just a single to secure a thrilling win.
Both the sides will return to Mirpur for the third T20I on Sunday.