BAN vs NZ: Ish Sodhi’s all-round heroics hand Bangladesh crushing defeat in 2nd ODI

Ish Sodhi’s all-round heroics turned out to be too good for Bangladesh as New Zealand stormed to victory by 86 runs in the second ODI of the series on Saturday, September 23 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Starting with, Sodhi racked up his highest ODI score of 35 runs off 39 balls with five fours. Thereafter, he finished with figures of 10-1-39-6 to make sure that the Black Caps bowl the Tigers out for 168 in 41.1 overs after setting a target of 255.

The Kiwis also ended their 15-year-long wait of beating Bangladesh in an ODI in the latter’s backyard. New Zealand came into the match after losing eight ODIs in a row against the Tigers on Bangladesh soil.

Sodhi got support from Kyle Jamieson, who picked up two crucial wickets, including that of stand-in skipper Litton Das.

As far as Bangladesh were concerned, the focus was on the trio of Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and Soumya Sarkar. Tamim looked aggressive from the outset as he scored 44 runs before Sodhi accounted for his wicket.

Mahmudullah fell short of a half-century as he scored 49 runs before Cole McConchie dismissed him with a half-tracker. Mahmudullah became the third Bangladeshi batter to score 10000 runs in international cricket, but is still a run short of reaching the 5000-run milestone.

Once Mahmudullah got out, it was all over bar the shouting for Bangladesh. Nasum Ahmed scored 21 runs, but it was only to reduce the losing margin.

Earlier, after electing to bat first, New Zealand lost three early wickets of Will Young, Finn Allen and Chad Bowes. But a partnership of 95 runs between Henry Nicholls and Tom Blundell brought the Kiwis back into the contest.

Blundell scored 68 off 66, but Nicholls missed out on scoring a fifty. Khaled Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan picked up three wickets apiece. Mustafizur Rahman was also impressive with two scalps.

The match also witnessed an instance when Hasan Mahmud ran Sodhi in his delivery stride at the non-striker’s end. But skipper Litton Das called Sodhi back after the third umpire gave the batter out.

The third ODI is set to take place on Tuesday, September 26 in Mirpur.