In their final match before the ODI World Cup, New
Zealand defeated Pakistan by seven wickets thanks to Will Young’s 70, an
impressive four-wicket haul from Adam Milne, and some valuable contributions
from their reserve bowlers. After being bowled out for 171, the hosts were
always trailing in the game and, save for a double-wicket surge from Shoriful
Islam, were unable to put New Zealand under any sort of pressure.
Young made a cautious start, needing ten balls to
score his maiden run, but once he did with a boundary, he didn’t slow down. He
was tested by Bangladesh’s seamers with the short ball, but he was up to the
task on the pull, with the exception of a few sporadic boundaries across
midwicket and cover.
It was a critical innings since New Zealand lost Finn
Allen and debutant Dean Foxcroft in the tenth over off back-to-back deliveries,
forcing Henry Nicholls, who was sluggish to get going, to withstand a stretch
of Bangladeshi bowling. But Young didn’t feel the pressure; he reached fifty in
64 balls and even switched gears afterward.
With consecutive fours off Hasan Mahmud in the 26th
over and ten runs in two balls off Nasum Ahmed in the 28th, Young sped through
the 50s and 60s. When he eventually was dismissed for 70 in the 30th over by a
skiddy Nasum delivery, New Zealand simply required 42 more runs to win.
Nicholls, who maintained his perfect record at 50, and Tom Blundell did the
rest with more than 15 overs to spare.
Bangladesh reached 171 in the afternoon thanks to
Najmul Hossain Shanto’s counterattacking 50 on his ODI captaincy debut. Despite
Mahmudullah’s 21 being Bangladesh’s second-highest contribution and the No. 3
batter’s eleven fours in his 84-ball 76, Bangladesh’s final score was
unimpressive.
New Zealand will now go to Hyderabad, India, for their
World Cup warm-up match against Pakistan after winning the series. Bangladesh
will travel to Guwahati in northeast India for their exhibition match against
Sri Lanka. Bangladesh just revealed their lineup for the competition. After the
World Cup, the two teams will meet up once more for two Test matches.