New Zealand set Bangladesh imposing target

Ross Taylor scored an unbeaten 107 and Colin Munro made 85 to help New Zealand cruise to 5-307 against Bangladesh in the third and final one-day international on Sunday.

Anton Devcich added 46 and Tom Latham scored 43 to give the visitors a solid base against a struggling Bangladesh at Khan Shaheb Osmani Ali Stadium, where international cricket returned for the first match in seven years.

Mahmudullah returned figures of 2-36 for Bangladesh, while Rubel Hossain, Sohag Gazi and Mashrafe Mortaza claimed one wicket each.

Taylor’s eighth one-day century came off 93 balls and included nine boundaries and three sixes. Munro made his 85 off 77 balls and hit seven fours and two sixes.

Munro and Taylor added 130 for the fourth wicket.

Munro’s innings swung the momentum the Kiwis way after they had been struggling at 3-101 at one stage.

Munro attacked the Bangladesh bowling from the start, but the aggressive mood caused his downfall when a century looked imminent. He looked to reverse hit a Mahmudullah ball but the extra bounce caught him out.

After the dismissal of Munro, Taylor came out of his shell to launch a spectacular attack on the bowlers, hitting three sixes in a row off Sohag Gazi.

His attacking knock helped New Zealand take 73 runs off the last five overs.

Other than against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh has never won a one-day international chasing more than 300 runs. Its highest chase came against India in 2012 when it chased down 293.

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