On a sluggish, low-bouncing pitch in Mirpur, Bangladesh, young pace bowler Nahid Rana delivered a career-defining performance on Monday, claiming a spectacular 5 wickets for just 32 runs to power the hosts to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second One Day International. The result levels the three-match series at one win apiece, setting up a highly anticipated decider scheduled for Thursday in Chattogram.
New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and made the call to bat first, a decision that quickly came under pressure as Nahid’s blistering express pace – clocked at a maximum of 144.7 kilometers per hour – tore through the visitors’ top order on the slow playing surface. The 22-year-old seamer notched his first breakthrough early, dismissing Henry Nicholls, and followed up with a second wicket in consecutive overs to remove Will Young. By the middle of the innings, New Zealand’s batting lineup was in disarray, with only opening batter Nick Kelly able to withstand Bangladesh’s bowling attack.
Kelly, playing in just his third ODI, notched a maiden half-century and went on to score an 83 off 102 balls, laced with 14 fours, to anchor New Zealand’s innings and drag the side to the brink of a 200-run total. But he received almost no meaningful support from the rest of the batting order: no other New Zealand batter managed to cross the 20-run mark, leaving the tail exposed to Bangladesh’s pace attack. Nahid continued his rampage through the middle and lower order, clean-bowling Jayden Lennox for a duck to secure his second five-wicket haul in his short international career. He came close to a sixth wicket when Will O’Rourke survived a close review, but Taskin Ahmed cleaned up the innings soon after, leaving New Zealand all out for 198 in 48.4 overs. Fellow Bangladeshi pacer Shoriful Islam chipped in with two key wickets – including Kelly, removed by a well-directed short delivery – to finish with figures of 2 for 32.
Needing just 199 runs to level the series, Bangladesh got off to a rocky start that gave New Zealand a faint glimmer of hope. Pacers Nathan Smith and Will O’Rourke removed openers Saif Hasan and Soumya Sarkar (returning to the side in place of Afif Hossain) for single-digit scores, leaving the hosts reeling at 21 for 2 after just four overs. But a transformative 120-run third-wicket partnership between opener Tanzid Hasan and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto flipped the match entirely in Bangladesh’s favor.
Tanzid played a fluent, aggressive innings, reaching 76 runs off just 58 balls, while Shanto built a patient innings to anchor the chase. Just after Shanto hit his 12th career ODI fifty – his first since February 2025 – a sudden muscle cramp forced him to retire hurt, but by that point Bangladesh held unchallenged control of the run chase. Left-arm spinner Lennox did manage two late wickets, removing Tanzid and Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das (playing his 100th ODI) for 7, but it was too little too late. The hosts reached the winning target of 199 with four wickets in hand and 87 overs remaining, closing out the win and setting the stage for a series decider in Chattogram later this week.