NAPIER
\nBangladesh clai\u00admed an historic five-wicket win over New Zealand on Wednesday after their bowlers ran riot in the opening game of their three-match Twenty20 International series in Napier on Wednesday.
\nThis was Bangladesh\u2019s first Twenty20 win on New Zealand soil, four days after also claiming a maiden away ODI win over the Black Caps in Napier.
\n\u201cI\u2019m really excited and very proud of how we played,\u201d said Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. Asked to bat by Shanto, New Zealand made a disastrous start losing three wickets before reaching 134 for nine after their 20 overs.
\n\u201cOur bowlers learnt quickly in these conditions with the new ball,\u201d Shanto added. \u201cWe were really confident after we restricted them.\u201d
\nThe Black Caps bowlers gave home fans hope with the early wickets of Bangladesh opener Rony Talukdar and Shanto.
\nVeteran Litton Das partnered up with Soumya Sarkar, then Towhid Hridoy to steer Ban\u00adgladesh to 96-4 after 13 overs.
\nThe visitors were wobbling at 97-5 as they lost wickets in quick succession after Afif Hossain was caught for one run off six balls.
\nDas, who finished on 42 not out, survived two close calls as he battled cramp.
\nThe on-field umpire gave him out lbw on Tim Southee\u2019s bowling, but the Bangladesh opener stayed at the crease when the review showed the ball would have sailed over the stumps. Ish Sodhi then caught Das at the boundary, but stepped onto the boundary rope to give away six runs.
\nIt fell to all-rounder Mahedi Hasan, who finished 19 not out, to hit the winning runs in his partnership of 40 alongside Das with eight balls spare.
\n\u201cCredit to Bangladesh, they bowled well,\u201d said Mitchell Santner, who captained New Zealand with regular white ball skipper Kane Williamson rested.
\n\u201cWe fought hard with the ball to make it interesting, but the powerplay took it away from us with the bat,\u201d Santner added.
\nThe second and third T20 in Internationals will both be played at Mount Maunganui on Friday, then Sunday.
\nBangladesh, ranked ninth in T20 International cricket, punched above their weight to floor third-ranked New Zealand.
\nHaving dismissed the Black Caps for 98 in Saturday\u2019s third ODI in losing the series 2-1, the Bangladesh bowlers picked up where they left off.
\nHasan bowled Tim Seifert in the opening over.
\nShoriful Islam was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers with 3-26, including having Finn Allen caught and Glenn Phillips trapped lbw in consecutive balls.
\nDaryl Mitchell hit consecutive fours before falling for 14 to leave New Zealand 20-4.
\nMark Chapman hit 19 off as many balls before being caught with the score on 50-5.
\nSantner and James Neesham put on 41 before Sarkar made his second catch to dismiss Santner, having also caught Allen in the slips.
\nNeesham fell two runs short of his 50, holing out at deep cover point, and Southee was caught on eight.
\nAdam Milne hit a towering six off the final ball to finish 16 not out before Bangladesh\u2019s batters chipped away at New Zealand\u2019s tally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAPIER Bangladesh clai\u00admed an historic five-wicket win over New Zealand on Wednesday after their bowlers ran riot in the opening game of their three-match Twenty20 International series in Napier on Wednesday. This was Bangladesh\u2019s first Twenty20 win on New Zealand soil, four days after also claiming a maiden away ODI win over the Black Caps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-377439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n