A 164-run thumping at the Basin Reserve in Wellington today saw Bangladesh get whitewashed by New Zealand in the three-match ODI series. This also remains the biggest margin win for the Kiwis against the Tigers in their backyard.
Bangladesh went to the tour with hopes of registering their first-ever win against New Zealand on their soil. However, that did not happen as the ODI whitewash saw the Kiwis extend their home winning streak to 29-0 across formats against the Tigers, and 16-0 in ODIs.
Bangladesh did come close in the second ODI in Christchurch but some sloppy fielding saw the game slip away from the Tigers. The Tigers, however, were clearly outplayed in the other two ODIs — first ODI in Dunedin and the third ODI in Wellington today.
“I think the first game and the last game, we were nowhere close to them [New Zealand]. They played exceptionally well. But we are a much better team. If we continue playing like this, we are going nowhere,” said a dejected Tamim at the post-match press conference in Wellington today.
“We understand it is a different condition than back home. But we have to improve a lot to compete with them. If you take out the second game, in the first and the third game we never looked to be competing with them. And that is very disappointing. As I said before the series that I had very high hopes. I thought we definitely had a chance and we did get a chance in the second game but overall it was a disappointing series for us. We did not play well,” added Tamim.
Aside from Mahmudullah Riyad’s unbeaten 76, there was nothing positive to take away from the last game for the Tigers. Following heavy criticism for fielding, Bangladesh once again disappointed in that department today. A few missed chances and Tigers’ failure to cash in on early opportunities saw Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell smash maiden ODI hundreds to help New Zealand post a commendable 318 for six.
And the Tigers’ batting once again crumbled while in chase of a steep target.
“The way we got out today, apart from one or two dismissals, there were way too many soft dismissals. The ball will do something in New Zealand early on. You just have to hang in tight. The perfect example was the last game [second ODI in Christchurch] where we only scored probably 26 or 25 in the first ten [overs]. But we cashed in in the next 20 [overs]. New Zealand surfaces are difficult to start but it gets really better to bat on. But we did not allow ourselves to give that chance, to bat deep. And we only have ourselves to blame,” Tamim tried to explain the reason behind another batting debacle.
