Bangladesh vs New Zealand, 6th Match, Group A - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Bangladesh will have to follow this famous quote. The end of something always leads to another beginning. Bangladesh will have to restructure their model. Their batting and their methods needs a bit of an overhaul. Their performances in ICC events over the last two decades have been underwhelming. And they would want to improve on it for sure. NZ are growing in strength. They seem to have most bases covered. Two quality spinners. Pace was never a concern. They have an all-round batting unit. They will be one of the teams to beat and have to be one of the favourites. India and NZ would be mouth watering for sure. We will bring to you that platter. But now is the time to pull down the curtains for this game. Our team of Saurabh Shankar, Anurag Hegde, Mukesh and KAD signing off.

Mitchell Santner: We knew Bangladesh will challenge us in these conditions. Bracewell is a quality bowler. He changed his pace. The key was to pick wickets in the middle overs. The wicket was more two paced than I thought. Little bit of dew but not as much I thought. Rachin loves ICC events. Seemed he never left the game. The partnership with Tom set us up. It would be a different challenge versus India on a different wicket.

Najmul Hossain Shanto: We started well today. We lost too many wickets in the middle overs. We didn't bat properly. Was a good wicket to bat on. We needed two big partnerships. Nahid is brilliant. I am happy the way he bowled. The last two years the bowling unit has done well. I think the game vs Pakistan is an important game. Would be good to finish on a high. We need to improve as a batting and fielding side.

Michael Bracewell | Player of the Match: Awesome to contribute to a win. Our main objective was getting to that semi-final spot. It was about keeping the stumps in play and bowling straight, not making it easy for them to score. There was some help on the surface, but you don’t have any real control once the ball has left your hand. Our side is pretty well balanced. I was hoping I won’t need to get the pads on, but don’t mind. Rachin and Latham set up the game perfectly, made things easier in the end.

Stats by Roshan Gede

POTM in New Zealand’s ODI wins in 2025
Matt Henry
Rachin Ravindra
Glenn Phillips
Kane Williamson
Will O’Rourke
Tom Latham
Michael Bracewell

Seven wins, seven different players.

Hundreds for NZ in Champions Trophy
145* - Nathan Astle vs USA, The Oval, 2004
118* - Tom Latham vs PAK, Karachi, 2025
112 - Rachin Ravindra vs BAN, Rawalpindi, 2025
107 - Will Young vs PAK, Karachi, 2025
102* - Chris Cairns vs IND, Nairobi, 2000 Final
100 - Kane Williamson vs AUS, Edgbaston, 2017

Three in 24 matches across the first eight editions, three in two matches in 2025.

61 of Rachin Ravindra’s 112 runs (54.4%) were scored across the covers region (43) and backward point (18) today. Overall, he has scored 273 runs in that part of the ground in ODIs (25.23% of his career runs), and has been caught (dismissed) only once.

Highest partnerships for NZ in Champions Trophy
163 - Nathan Astle & Scott Styris vs USA, The Oval, 2004
136* - Nathan Astle & Craig McCmillan vs USA, The Oval, 2004
135 - Nathan Astle & Roger Twose vs PAK, Nairobi, 2000
129 - Tom Latham & Rachin Ravindra vs BAN, Rawalpindi, 2025

New Zealand have had 12 century stands in the Champions Trophy, Tom Latham has been involved in three of them (all this edition), the joint-most alongside Nathan Astle.

Visiting teams with most consecutive wins in Pakistan
7 - India (2006-2008)
6 - Sri Lanka (1995-1997)
6* - New Zealand (2023-2025)

Bangladesh lacked depth in batting. They never scored enough in both the games. Had batting collapses and that never allowed them to score above par in both the games. Their bowling never had enough to play with. 40-50 runs in both the games would have meant they would have been very competitive. Their dependence on Rahim and Mahmudullah didn't bear many fruits here. Maybe time to look beyond them now. Shakib was left out for this tourney and so was Litton Das. But nothing much has changed for them. The Bangladesh unit will play their final game against Pakistan and will hope they will be able to open their account.

21:37 Local Time, 16:37 GMT, 22:07 IST: Pakistan and Bangladesh are out of the tournament. The hosts are out. That's been very rare in ICC tournaments of late. Bangladesh batted in a timid manner and that I guess didn't help them. They started well with the ball. Taskin bowled Young with a beauty. Nahid edged out KW. NZ seemed to be in trouble. But then Rachin came to party. He had a partnership first with Conway and then Latham. The one with Latham saw them scoring 129 runs for the fourth wicket. Rachin fell trying to finish it early. Latham was out run-out. And then Michael Bracewell and Phillips got together to finish it off. Easy win for the Kiwis and they are through to the semis alongside India. The game between the two will decide who will top the table.

Some issues with the sightscreen. Kumar Dharmasena having a word with Phillips. I guess he wants them to carry on. Maybe because only 6 is needed. But there seems to be a glitch with the sight-screen.