New Zealand romp Bangladesh to complete 3-0 clean sweep win

RCB’s new recruit Finn Allen showed his impeccable hitting capabilities during New Zealand’s third and final T20I against Bangladesh in Auckland. A rain-affected match that was reduced to 10-over a side witnessed some fireworks from Allen and his opening partner Martin Guptill took the visitors to cleaners, sending them in a shell-shocked state.

Allen took on the Bangladesh bowlers and hammered them all around the park to score 71 off 29 balls that included three maximums and 10 fours while Guptill struck 44 off 19 as the home side posted 141/4 in 10 overs.

The visitors had a dismal start to the chase after losing a couple of early wickets before getting reduced to 60/7 and eventually getting bundled out for 76 to suffer the defeat by 65 runs.

Todd Astle and captain Tim Southee ripped apart the Bangladesh batting line up as the two picked up a total of 7 wickets in the second half of the game. Only three Bangladesh batsmen managed to reach the double-figure mark with Mohammad Naim top-scoring with 19.

The Blackcaps had earlier taken an unassailable lead after beating the Bangla Tigers in the first two T20Is.

Allen who was adjudged Man of the Match for his brisk knock talked about his partnership with Guptill. “It was good fun and batting with Guptill is nice. Thought we'd give ourselves a bit of a chance and play our shots up front. It was excited to get out here, it's a bit intimidating, but it was fun to be talked through every ball and to watch Guptill hit everything out of the park,” he said.

Bangladesh captain Liton Das expressed disappointment on a 0-3 loss and admitted that the batting and fielding haven’t been up to the mark and which costed the Bangladesh team the series. “First of all, our batting and fielding haven't been great. That has costed us. We need to think on how to play in bouncy tracks, gotta play smart cricket. We have played World Cups, so we aren't a young bunch,” Das said.

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