ICC Champions Trophy 2017: 5 things that went wrong for New Zealand against Bangladesh

#5 Wasted start with the ball

The 224-run stand between Shakib and Mahmudullah – Bangladesh’s highest ever in ODIs – came exactly at an hour of need

If New Zealand required anything to compensate for their under-par score, it was a few wickets at the start. That’s exactly what Tim Southee delivered in his opening spell, plucking out the Bangladesh top-order for next to nothing with three overs of brilliant swing bowling that yielded as many wickets.

His first victim was the in-form Tamim Iqbal, trapped plumb in front for a duck by a ball delivered full on middle stump and swinging into leg. Off his next over, he sent back Sabbir Rahman with one that pitched just outside off and swung away with an edge to Ronchi.

In a similar fashion to Tamim’s dismissal, fellow opener Soumya Sarkar was also hit on the pads by one that swung in and Bangladesh were reeling at 12/3 at the end of Southee’s third over. With such a start, most people would have written off Bangladesh’s ability to pull out of misery and script an epic, especially when they had lost their premier batsman Tamim Iqbal, who had scored 223 runs, including a century against England and 95 against Australia.

Shakib and Mahmudullah had other ideas. Mushfiqur Rahim’s departure off a 146km/h ripper from Milne brought the duo together at the crease. The pair then followed the footsteps of their Sri Lankan middle order counterparts in not being rushed by scoreboard pressure and sticking to the basics of playing the ball on merit and slowly building the chase.

In a record 224-run partnership – Bangladesh’s highest ever in ODIs – Shakib and Mahmudullah batted Kiwis out of the game with a sensible display of batting. Once the new ball wore off and the change bowlers came on, the Kiwi bowling attack was rendered toothless.