NAPIER, March 30: New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 28 runs in the rain-affected second Twenty20 and took a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series on Tuesday.
Sent in by Bangladesh, New Zealand was 173-5 in the 18th over when its innings was cut short by rain.
Bangladesh was set a revised winning target of 170 from 16 overs under the Duckworth Lewis system and finished 142-7.
The series win was New Zealand’s seventh at home this season; four of those were in T20s, two in tests, and one in one-day internationals.
Amid bizarre scenes, Bangladesh began before match referee Jeff Crowe officially calculated its revised total. Bangladesh played the first nine balls of their innings in the second T20I against New Zealand without knowing their correct target on Tuesday at the McLean Park.
The umpires stopped the match with Bangladesh 12-0 after 1.3 overs, waiting for official notification of the new target.
“Right and now we can play. 170 confirmed as what Bangladesh will need to win from 16 overs. Play returns at McLean Park. #NZvBAN,” said a tweet from the BlackCaps Twitter account upon resumption of play.
This too was later corrected to 171 only after the 13th over of the chase.
There was a long delay while Crowe worked feverishly at his computer. At one point he had what appeared to be an angry exchange with Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo.
“I don’t think I have been involved in a game before where batters go out and don’t know what the DLS target is. There was a lot of rain around. Nobody had any idea of how many we needed after five or six overs. I don’t think the game should have started until it was finalised, before there was a clear indication of what is required, and what we needed at certain stages. I don’t quite think it (the conduct of the match) was good enough this evening,” Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“(When we met the match referee) they were still waiting for the printouts and calculations to take place. I think if you are waiting, the game can’t start before you get it. What was explained now was that they normally get it one or two balls into the innings, but hadn’t received it yet. They were waiting for it. There were delays and all sorts of stuff. No excuses (for the defeat), but this is just very frustrating for us,” he said.
Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah, meanwhile, didn’t make much of the confusion. “I think there was a bit of confusion because we didn’t know what the DLS score was, it kept changing on the scoreboard. It can happen in the game. First five overs we were on track but we didn’t finish well enough,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham tweeted, “How is it possible to start a run chase without knowing what you’re chasing? Crazy stuff. #NZvBAN”
Bangladesh at times looked on pace to succeed in what would have been an extraordinary chase which required them to score mostly at 12 runs per over.
Soumya Sarkar made a half-century from 25 balls and added 81 for the second wicket with Mohammad Naim (38) to raise the hopes of the touring team.
The pair took 19 runs from the sixth over bowled by Ish Sodhi and 20 from the seventh from Adam Milne to briefly drop the required run rate below 10.
But part-time offspinner Glenn Phillips played a vital role, allowing only four runs from the eighth over and nine runs off the 10th. Sodhi gave up five runs off the ninth and the run rate climbed again.
“There were a few nerves but I’ve been preparing for bowling for a long time and it was nice that Tim (Southee) had the faith in me to be able to come in and bowl at that pressure time,” Phillips said.
Soumya fell to Southee for 51 in the 11th over and Bangladesh’s task became insurmountable. Phillips dismissed Naim and the speedster Milne returned to bowl Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain in the 14th over. Bangladesh slumped from 123-3 to 126-6. (Agencies)
