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Bracewell’s four-for, Ravindra ton take Kiwis into semis
NZ’s five-wicket win over Bangladesh also put India in the semis from Champions Trophy Group A; Pakistan are eliminated
New Delhi: Rachin Ravindra’s sublime century (112 - 105b, 4x12, 6x1) after spinner Michael Bracewell’s 4/26 gave the Champions Trophy its first semi-finalists as New Zealand trounced Bangladesh by five wickets in Rawalpindi on Monday. The result means India, with two wins like New Zealand, also moved into the last four from Group A while hosts and defending champions Pakistan and Bangladesh were eliminated without a win and with a game left.
New Zealand’s encounter against India in Dubai on March 2 will only determine who tops the group.
A victory for Bangladesh could have kept all four Group A teams in play for the semi-final spots, but a clinical chase from the Kiwis put paid to all permutations. The protagonist of the Kiwi chase was Ravindra, who lit up the night with an array of free-flowing drives and deft nudges to ease to a fourth ODI ton. The southpaw, who didn’t play the opener against Pakistan after suffering a forehead injury in the field during the tri-series that preceded the tournament, strung together useful partnerships with Devon Conway and Tom Latham.
Chasing a modest 237 on a placid Rawalpindi deck after Mitchell Santner called correctly at the toss, New Zealand maintained a steady tempo despite losing two early wickets to the lively pace of Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana.
Will Young (0), who scored a century against Pakistan last week, fell in the first over after Taskin was rewarded for his accuracy. After moving five balls away from the off-stump channel, he got the last delivery to cut back to breach Young’s defence. Rana then sent back Kiwi mainstay Kane Williamson (5) with one that seamed away after pitching outside off-stump.
Having snared two wickets inside four overs, Bangladesh had the Kiwis on the backfoot, but Conway and Ravindra dug in. Taskin and Rana tested them with pace and length, but the duo negated the threat by mixing drives with nudges to keep the scoreboard moving. On more than one occasion, Bangladesh pacers hit the splice or inside halves of their bats – an indication of the ball hurrying onto the batters – but whenever the opportunity presented itself, Conway and Ravindra cashed in.
Conway was the early aggressor, caressing Taskin on either side of the cover fielder for a couple of fours before hitting Rana for three boundaries in the ninth over. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was greeted with a four each from the left-handers though the next six overs saw only one four hit. With boundaries hard to come by, Conway, trying to guide one through point, ended up chopping a length ball on to the stumps. His 57-run stand with Ravindra though had nicely set up the chase.
Tom Latham, fresh from his ton against Pakistan, then joined forces with Ravindra who used his reach to time good length balls past the cover and point regions. He drove a Mustafizur Rahman yorker to the straight boundary, thumped Mehidy to the mid-wicket fence against the spin and pulled Najmul Shanto for six as New Zealand motored along. The two stitched 129 runs for the fourth wicket to shut the doors on Bangladesh.
Earlier, Bangladesh started briskly, the first 10 overs yielding 58 runs. Their run-rate however kept dipping thereafter as New Zealand applied the choke. Player-of-the-Match Bracewell led the Kiwi attack in the middle overs, a combination of tight lines from the off-spinner and poor execution from batters resulting in the complete strangulation of Bangladesh’s middle order.
Their most experienced batter Mushfiqur Rahim, last match’s centurion Towhid Hridoy, and the elegant Mahmudullah all fell for single-digit scores to Bracewell. It meant Bangladesh moved at less than four-an-over in the 30-over period after the first powerplay. That also meant there was not a single 50-run partnership for Bangladesh. Some late impetus from Jaker Ali and Rishad Hossain pushed them past the 200-run mark, but against a potent Kiwi side, it was never going to be enough.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 236/9 (N Shanto 77; M Bracewell 4/26). NZ 240/5 in 46.1 overs (R Ravindra 112, T Latham 55). NZ won by five wickets.
