Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah came to Bangladesh's rescue with masterful tons to knock New Zealand out of the Champions Trophy 2017 by winning the game at Cardiff by five wickets on Friday.
While chasing a target of 266 to win the Group A game, Bangladesh fell to 33 for four as Kiwi seamers Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and Adam Milne made the new ball swing.
After being four wickets down by the end of 12 overs, Shakib and Mahmudullah stitched a brilliant partnership where the former scored 114 while the latter took Bangladesh over the line with a 102 not out.
Victory in Cardiff may not be enough for either Bangladesh or New Zealand to reach the knockout stage of a tournament featuring the world's top eight one-day global sides.
If Australia, who have two points from two matches, win they will progress to the semi-finals as their tally will swell to four but if the match is rained off or Australia lose then Bangladesh will go through on the basis of their win over the Kiwis. While Bangladesh surge, clinching a second consecutive five-wicket win over New Zealand, to go with the one they managed against an under-strength team in Dublin last month, New Zealand have failed to regenerate since their intoxicating run to the World Cup final.
New Zealand were well set while Williamson (57) and Ross Taylor (63) shared a partnership of 83.
Taskin Ahmed, Bangladesh's other change to a side that escaped with a no result against Australia, took two for 43 in eight overs.
Bangladesh could advance to the semifinals, depending on the result of the England-Australia game at Edgbaston on Saturday. "We just said keep going", explained Shakib, the man-of-the-match, at the presentation ceremony.
"It was certainly an innings of two halves", he said.
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Mahmudullah then joined Shakib and the rest for those who watched it live, will remain a memory of a life time.
Mahmudullah and Shakib targeted Neesham, alternating between attack and well-timed running to force New Zealand to rethink, and they were unable to stop Bangladesh's steady accumulation. In Bangladesh, that start time will be 3:30 p.m. Bangladesh Standard Time, while in New Zealand, the match gets underway at 9:30 p.m.
"I think if we're truly going to be contenders for this tournament, we need to beat the best teams - and Australia are one of the best teams", he said. They got off to a decent start with the openers adding 46 runs before Luke Ronchi was removed for 16 in the 8 over. Williamson went past Nathan Astle (344) and Daniel Vettori (299) today. New Zealand is out of the tournament with one point from three games.
Just two years ago, at the last International Cricket Council 50-over competition, New Zealand reached the final of the 2015 World Cup. Taylor flicked the ball straight to Mossadek Hossain at short fine-leg and Williamson set off. Taylor, understandably, was not very interested and Williamson became another leader, who felt compelled to execute a fatal U-turn.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza believes his side can face the future with renewed confidence even if they are denied a semi-final place at the Champions Trophy.
Mahmudullah got the Bangladesh fans in a sparse crowd cheering when he pulled Jimmy Neesham for a six and a four off successive deliveries.
345 runs for Williamson in Champions Trophy, the 2nd-most by a New Zealand cricketer.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was magnanimous in defeat. We didn't talk about the target, we just wanted to bat for 40 overs and see where we got to.
"Normally when we bat, we don't speak too much".
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