In a joint effort, Bangladeshi bowlers dismissed New Zealand at 60 to win the first T20 of the five-match series by seven wickets. This was the Kiwis’ joint lowest-total ever in men’s T20Is. 

Bangladesh took their own time as they chased 61 runs in 15 overs, batting just over four runs an over. Mushfiqur Rahim (16) and Mahmadullah (14) crossed the line for the hosts as Shakib Al Hasan top-scored with 25 runs. 

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The script of this humiliating defeat for New Zealand started when Tom Latham and company were reduced to 9/4 in four overs. Apart from Tom Latham (18) and Henry Nicholls (18), no other Kiwi batsman registered double-digit figures. For Bangladesh, Nasum Ahmed, Shakib-Al-Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin picked up two wickets each, while Mustafizur Rahman grabbed 3/13.

The first time New Zealand got out for 60 in T20 internationals was in 2014. They were bowled out by Sri Lanka in a match that  incidentally also took place in Bangladesh. This score is the lowest T20I total by any team against Bangladesh. The hosts, in their last T20I, had bowled Australia for 62 and won the fifth T20I to seal the series 4-1. 

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Shakib Al Hasan was named the man of the match for his all-round efforts. “It’s a good feeling to win the first match of a series, given that we have never won against NZ. It will boost our team and give us confidence for the rest of the series. I think we have been bowling well throughout the Australia series and now against New Zealand. Our batting is not upto the mark but the conditions are not easy for batsmen so we have to play really good cricket to put up a decent total,” he said. 

“We built a partnership in the middle, we knew it would be tough, but we kept losing wickets. We couldn’t put it together today. Hope we take learnings from what happened today, we need to understand the conditions which are very different from what we have back home,” Latham said in the post match presentation.