Hamilton: Opener Martin Guptill smashed a brisk century before New Zealand huffed and puffed to a thrilling three-wicket win over Bangladesh to sign off their league engagements unbeaten in pool A of the ICC cricket World Cup here on Friday.
Chasing a competitive 289 to win, New Zealand rode on a 131-run third-wicket partnership between Guptill (105) and Ross Taylor (56) to stay atop pool A with 12 points.
Bangladesh, who had reached the quarterfinals for the first time after beating England last Monday, are now most likely to take on defending champions India in the last eight stage.
However, a final position of the pool will only be known after the Australia-Scotland match at Hobart on Saturday.
Earlier, Mahmudullah cracked his second successive century — a career-best unbeaten 128 — to power Bangladesh to a competitive 288 for seven. Defending the total, Bangladesh started off well dismissing dangerous opener and host captain Brendon McCullum (8) and first down batsman Kane Williamson (1) cheaply to reduce the Kiwis to 33-2 inside five overs.
But Guptill and Taylor added 131 runs to not only script a recovery but also lay the foundation for a successful chase. Guptill’s 100-ball innings was laced with 11 hits to the fence and two sixes, while Taylor blasted five boundaries in his 97-ball stay at Seddon park.
However after Guptill was holed out by Rubel Hossain off Shakib Al Hasan’s bowling in the 31st over at 164-3, New Zealand suffered a mini-collapse to give Bangladesh a faint hope of a turnaround.
Nasir Hossain dismissed Taylor, while Rubel sent back Grant Elliott (39) in quick succession and then Shakib, who picked up four wickets, got rid off Luke Ronchi to further reduce the hosts to 247-6 in 44.4 overs.
However, No. 8 batsman Daniel vettori (16) smashed a six and a four in his 10-ball innings to ensure that New Zealand romp home, reaching 290-7 with seven balls to spare. (PTI)
