Soumya Sarkar's 169 in vain as NZ clinch series

A valiant lone hand from Soumya Sarkar helped Bangladesh save some embarrassment but it could not prevent them from losing the second ODI, and the series, to New Zealand at Nelson on December 20.

With Jacob Duffy knocking over a couple quickly after New Zealand chose to bowl, the onus was on Sarkar to help them launch a fightback. He started to be a lot more watchful after a quickfire start, that included three fours in a over bowled by William O Rourke. Briefly with Towhid Hridoy, he managed to steady the ship before joining hands with Mushfiqur Rahim.

The duo put on a steady stand worth 91 with each contributing almost equally before Rahim became Duffy's third victim of the match. With only the lower-order for company, Sarkar now began to open up further, pushing his scoring rate up.

Even as wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end, Sarkar managed to keep chipping away at the boundaries to notch up his highest ever ODI score. He remained at the crease until the final over, ensuring Bangladesh had a fighting total to play with.

However, the chase was made to look rather easy by New Zealand's top order. Rachin Ravindra led a blistering opening stand worth 76 in 11 overs before falling to Hasan Mahmud. Henry Nicholls joined Young and the duo put on a crisp 128-run stand that took New Zealand closer to the target. Even as both batters missed centuries, the finishing touches were given by Tom Latham and Tom Blundell as New Zealand won with 22 balls to spare

Brief Scores:Bangladesh 291 in 49.5 overs (Soumya Sarkar 169, Mushfiqur Rahim 45) lost to New Zealand 296/3 in 46.2 overs (Henry Nicholls 95, Will Young 89, Rachin Ravindra 45) by 7 wickets