Kiwis thrash Tigers by 66 runs in first T20I

BRIEF SCORE: New Zealand 210 for 3 (Conway 92*, Young 53, Nasum 2-30) beat Bangladesh 144 for 8 (Afif 45, Saifuddin 34*, Sodhi 4-28, Ferguson 2-25) by 66 runs

Afif Hossain scored a 33-ball 45 to reduce the deficit while Bangladesh conceded another huge defeat in New Zealand. This time the Tigers lost the first T20I by 66 runs which kept their winless run in any format against the hosts in their soil intact.

Wicket-keeper Devon Conway scored a rapid-fire 52-ball 92 and Will Young scored a fifty in his debut to power New Zealand post a massive 210 runs losing 3 wickets in 20 overs in the first of the 3-match T20I series in Hamilton on Sunday.

Chasing a massive total, Bangladesh were in trouble instantly and kept losing wickets in regular intervals. At some point the visitor were 59/6 after 7.5 overs. Afif and Mohammad Saifuddin made some recovery with 63 runs partnership from 56 balls in the seventh wicket but the effort was not enough to avoid another humiliation against New Zealand. This is the eighth straight defeat against the Black Caps for Tigers in T20Is.

Saifuddin remained unbeaten with a score of 34 while Ish Sodhi starred the New Zealand bowling line-up taking four wickets from his four overs conceding only 28 runs.

Afif Hossain scores a rapid-fire 45

Earlier, winning the toss, Black Caps captain Tim Southee opted to bat first and got hit with an instant setback when Bangladesh debutant spinner Nasum Ahmed bowled New Zealand debutant Finn Allen out for a duck in the very first over. The other opener, Martin Guptill made a 52-run partnership with Conway before getting out to Nasum after scoring 35. 

Conway then partnered with Young for a century stand to place them in a solid position to finish the innings on a high note. While Young departed after scoring 53 to Mahedi Hasan, Conway finished the innings along with Glenn Phillips and set the total of 210 after 20 overs. 

Conway was unbeaten at the end with 92 runs scoring 11 boundaries and three sixes and later adjudged as Man of the Match.

Bangladesh gave opportunities to debutant Nasum Ahmed and Shoriful Islam in the playing XI while veteran Mushfiqur Rahim was left out due to a shoulder injury.

SQUADS:

New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Finn Allen, 3 Devon Conway (wk), 4 Will Young, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Mark Chapman, 7 Daryl Mitchell, 8 Tim Southee (capt), 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Hamish Bennett, 11 Lockie Ferguson.

Bangladesh: 1 Liton Das (wk), 2 Mohammad Naim, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Mohammad Mithun, 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.