Pallekele: Brendon McCullum led from the front and scored a record setting century to help New Zealand beat Bangladesh by a comprehensive margin of 59 runs in the group D opener of the T20 World Cup here today.
McCullum scored 123 off 58 deliveries bettering his previous best of 116 not out to help the Black Caps put up a daunting total of 191 for three.
McCullum who came to bat in the number three position started off steadily and once he got his eyes in there was no stopping him. The Bangladeshi bowlers had no answer to his blitzkrieg and were hit all over the park.
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New Zealand 191 for 3 (B McCullum 123) beat Bangladesh 132 for 8 (Hossain 50, Southee 3-16, Mills 3-33) by 59 runs
Match facts:
Toss: Bangladesh won the toss chose to bat
New Zealand:
First powerplay: 34 runs, 1 wicket (0-6 overs)
4's: 15 6's: 9
Bangladesh
First powerplay: 37 runs, 3 wickets (0-6 overs)
4's 13 6's 3
Man of the match: Brendon McCullum
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McCullum who is the highest run getter in the T20 Internationals so far so far has also become the first man to score two centuries in this format of the game. His innings was laced with 11 boundaries and seven boundaries and he played just 10 dot balls in his entire innings. He got out in the last delivery on the New Zealand after he tried to clear the boundary off Abdur Razzak’s bowling.
Franklin was another notable contributor to New Zealand’s total and he scored 35 off 36 deliveries including two fours and a six.
With figures of 2-26, Razzak was the most successful bowler for New Zealand.
It never looked like Bangladesh would be able to go anywhere close to the target and eventually could manage only 132 for loss of eight wickets.
None of the Bangladeshi’s batsmen could take up the challenge to the Kiwis apart from Nasir Hossain who scored a brilliant half century to delay the inevitable. He scored 50 from deliveries laced with six fours and a six.
Tim Southee and Kyle Mills accounted for three wickets apiece.
By Indian Sports News Network
