Alesha Mart ODI Series 

3rd Match Played at Basin Reserve Wellington On 26th March 2021 
New Zealand VS Bangladesh 

New Zealand 318/6 (Devon Conway 126, Daryl Mitchel 100*, Martin Guptil 26, Rubel Hossain 3/70) 
Bangladesh 154 All Out  (Mahmudullah Riad 76*, Mushfiqur Rahim 21, Liton K Das 21) 
New Zealand Won by 164 Runs. 
New Zealand Won The Series 3-0 
Man Of The Match: Devon Conway 
Player Of The Series Devon Conway 

Kiwi fruit tastes sweet, But getting a comprehensive ODI series white wash Bangladesh was served with bitter Kiwi lessons. All said and done New Zealand Bangladesh ODI series turned into a David Golliath Contest. Bangladesh looked raw amateurs against thoroughly professional very strong New Zealand. Black caps clinically executing their plans not only white washed Bangladesh winning all matches by big margin but also nakedly exposed Bangladesh batting against moving balls on bouncy wickets. In the first match Bangladesh was rocked to 131 all out. In the third only a heroic 76* not out by Mahmudullah could take them to 154 all out. Even then Bangladesh lost by a huge margin of 164 runs.

We know lot of post mortem will be done of the failures. in brief  Bangladesh neither had quality nor the temperament to match very strong New Zealand on challenging wickets. Batting looked spineless. Bowlers did well in patches. But poor fielding and atrocious catching let them down.

There was expectation among dream loving Bangladeshis that after better show with the bat at Hagley Oval They thought .Bangladesh would present the nation something to cheer about on the 50th anniversary of National Independence,. But an awful overall performance could only present shock and awe for the cricket loving millions.

Bangladesh bowlers, Rubel (should have played all 3 ODIs) and Taskin bowled brilliantly when New Zealand winning the toss elected to bat. Guptill, Mitchell and Taylor were consumed early despite catches dropped through butter fingers . 

If Tamim could provide back up setting aggressive fielders New Zealand could have lost few more wickets. But instead for treasons unknown slip was taken away and there was no gully when Taskin and Rubel were moving the ball. Again when Conway and Latham were building the innings rotating singles he did not set field to stop that. Conway the new batting hero of New Zealand having flamboyant Daryl Mitchell ruthlessly spanked Bangladesh bowling added 147 runs in 5th wicket in 24 overs. Conway scored 126 with the help of 17 fours. Mitchell remained unbeaten on 100 striking 9 fours and two sixes. Rubel overlooked in the first two matches was the peak of the Bangladeshi bowling taking3/70 . Taskin bowled fast and was unlucky not getting at least 3 wickets as easy catches went down off his bowling.

318/6 was a tall order for Bangladesh to chase. Rather their top order melted yet again under pace of Mat Henry. Tamim (1) , Liton ( 21) and Soumya ( 1) at least proved their consistent failures repeating their feat of past visit. By the 7th Over Bangladesh was reeling at 3/26. Hostile and penetrative attack also broke the backbone of the middle order. Mithun(6) , Mehedi Miraj (0) and Mehedy (0) crumbled like cookies as Neesham appeared as the tormentor . at 7/82 Mahmudullah had no hope of making recovery. Knowing well about the fate he made best use of the occasion making his T20 batting practice entertaining the sizeable crowd. His unbeaten 76 could only reduce the deficit a bit. Bangladesh lost by 164 runs getting all out 154. 

Bangladesh got comprehensive whitewash. It was not unexpected as New Zealand now possibly the best unit in all formats. Bangladesh with batsmen of questionable techniques and not many wicket-taking bowlers could not create any contest. Yet 131 in the first match and 154 in the last cannot true reflection of Bangladesh quality. The team lacked planning, could not use their resources intelligently, Team selection was poor. Even in the third match appearing with two spinners on a bouncy pacey surface was proved flawed. Saifuddin should have been there in place of Mahedy.  Liton and Soumyo should not have been persisted with after their repeated failures. Tamim was shadow of his past. Even Mushfique also did not deliver. Mahmudullah was stand-alone. He proved that it is still early ignoring him in any format. 

In a nut shell the performance of Bangladesh was shocking an awful. Bangladesh did not have a plan B . When top order batting got blown away in first and third match Tamim did not alter his batting order. Tamim, Liton and DSoumyo lacked technique against quality pace attack on juicy condition. Rubel should have played in all matches. After first match Bangladesh should have reviewed top order batting. Either Riad should have batted at three or Shano should have replaced either Liton or Soumyo. Wonder why not Shariful given a match. 

BDST: 1328 HRS, MAR 26, 2021
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