Black Caps will now take on Afghanistan on October 18
New Zealand downed Bangladesh to remain unbeaten and secure their third consecutive win in the World Cup 2023.
During the match being played at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium, the Black Caps easily chased down Bangladesh's 246-run target in the 43rd over.
Suffering an early blow after losing their opener Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand were limited to 37-1 in the first 10 overs. However, the Kiwis pulled through courtesy of a remarkable 108-run stand between skipper Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell who scored 78 and 89 runs respectively and emerged as top scorers for the Kiwis.
Williamson — who marked his return to ODI cricket after a long time following knee surgery — got retired hurt in the 39th over and went back to the pavilion after being hit in the thumb by the ball while he was crossing the wicket in the previous over.
Mitchell played the winning shot for his side as he sealed a significant win for the Black Caps with 43 balls to spare.
Batting first, Bangladesh met with early blows, losing their four batters for just 56 runs in 12.1 overs, and were on their way to an early collapse.
However, a 96-run partnership between the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib-Al-Hasan provided the much-needed stability with the former scoring 66, while the latter contributed to 40 runs.
After the two experienced batters departed, another veteran, Mahmudullah provided some late runs to his side and took his team to a competitive 245-run total on the tricky wicket of Chennai.
Lockie Ferguson picked three wickets to his name, Matt Henry and Trent Boult got two each while Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phlipps took one each.
Bangladesh will play their next game against India on October 19 in Mumbai while the Black Caps will play Afghanistan on October 18 at the same venue.