New Zealand Bangladesh ODI series 
2nd Match Played at Hagley Oval , Christchurch on 23 March 2021 
Bangladesh 271/6   in 50 overs (Tamim Iqbal 78, Mohammad Mithun 73* , Mushfiqur Rahim 34 , Soumya Sarkar 32 , Michel Santner 2/51 ) 

New Zealand 271/5 in 48.2 overs (Tom Latham 110* ,Devon Conway 72 , James Neesham 30, Mehedi Hasan 2/42 , Mustafizur Rahman 2/62) 

New Zealand won by 5 wickets
New Zealand Leads 3 Matches Series 2-0
Player Of The Match: Tom Latham 

Poor catching and abysmal fielding cost Bangladesh the second of three matches ODI series against New Zealand played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.  

Batting first in the first ever day night match at the venue Bangladesh posted a challenging score of 271/6 . Losing some early wickts New Zealand had its back to the wall. But Captain Tom Latham and Rookie Devon Conway weathering the storm paced the innings skillfully. Conway got run out after scoring 72 but Captain Latham anchoring the innings remained unbeaten on 110. Bangladesh fielded extremely poorly dropped as many as three easy catches and few half chances. Ground fielding was pretty ordinary. New Zealand scoring 275/5 won the match by 5 wickets. Winning tow matches back-to-back New Zealand wrapped up the series 2-0. Another series white wash now looms large for Bangladesh. 

Losing the toss and being asked to bat Bangladesh was stuttered early losing Liton for not. Tamim and Soumyo had to struggle to steady the rocking boat. Tamim tried to bat out the threats chancing his arms and Soumyo took some time to stabilze. In the partnership of 81 as soon as he tried to put his feet in paddle he got out. After his departure two senior professionals Tamim and Mushfique 48 useful runs before Tamim’s flamboyant innings was cut short by an unfortunate run out at 78. Mushfique and Mithun added useful 51. Mushfique for reasons unknown got impatient and threw away his wicket trying to manufacture stroke at 32. Mithun looked silky smooth. His brilliant unbeaten innings of 73 in 57 deliveries led Bangladesh scoring a very challenging total of 271/5 on a wicket gripping an turning. It was a huge improvement from the Dunedin Nightmare of 131 all out. 

Mustafiz struck early removing danger man Martin Guptill for 20. When young Mahdi struck double blows clean bowling Nichols and Young New Zealand was reeling at 3/53. Two off spinners Mahedis bowing at tandem dried out runs. However, Latham and Conway staring slowly steadied the innings. Ground fielding of Bangladesh was pretty ordinary. Adding 113 runs for the 4th wicket this pair laid the foundation for the win. Yet after the fall of Conway getting brilliantly run out by Tamim for 72 created an opportunity for Bangladesh. But at 38th and 39th over Bangladesh lost two golden opportunities. First Mushfique dropped a dolly of Latham of the bowling of Taskin. That very over of Taskin could take two to three wickets if not ball just missed the wicket or catches dropped just short. In the very next over Mahedy Hasan dropped Neesham off his own bowling. Bangladesh fielding got ragged and heads dropped. Latham and Neesham batted New Zealand to victory. Latham remained unbeaten on 110. 

Bangladesh can only blame them for losing the match. No team can win a close contest dropping 3-4 vital catches and fielding very ordinarily. Yet the batting of Mithun and Tamim and bowling of Mehdis and Taskin were among the highlights of the match. 

We cannot still make out why Rubel can not find a room in Bangladesh bowling attack. Bangladesh unnecessarily bowled too short in most of part of New Zealand innings letting them escape from a tight leash.  New Zealand survived a genuine scare playing very smart cricket. 

BDST: 1635 HRS, MAR 23, 2021
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