Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan smacked a 70 but that wasn’t sufficient to cruise to a 200-plus target that suffered the Tigers a 48-run defeat in their third game of the tri-nation against New Zealand at Hagley Oval on Wednesday.
With the three successive defeats, Bangladesh are now out of the final of the competition as the Kiwis and Pakistan moved to the title decider.
Shakib hit a 44-ball 70, his joint second highest in T20Is, with eight fours and one maximum to help his side reach 160-7 in reply to a mammoth 208-5.
Liton Das and Soumya Sarker made a run-a-ball 23 each while other batsmen failed to go beyond 15.
Adam Milne scalped 3 and Tim Southee, Michael Bracewell ended with 2 wickets each.
With the bat, Glenn Philips made a cracking 60 off 24 balls, alongside a 40-ball 62 from Devon Conway.
For Bangladesh, Mohammad Saifuddin, Ebadot Hossain claimed two wickets each, while Shoriful Islam bagged one.
Sent to bat the Kiwis made a blistering start as their opening amassed 45 off just 26 balls before Shoriful removed Finn Allen for 32 off 19 balls.
Later a 82 off 54, 34 off 17and 42 off 18-run partnership from Conway-Martin Guptil, Conway-Phillips, and James Neesham-Philips, due to the Tigers' futile bowling in the second, third and fifth wicket stand, powered the hosts to a daunting 208-5.
With Bangladesh needing a huge 209, they lost their opener, Najmul Hossain Shanto, despite having been handed two chancs for 11 by Adam Milne that shortened them to 24-1 in 3.3 overs.
His fellow partner, Liton Das, also copied him after two overs, being removed by Bracewell for a 16-ball 23.
Soumya Sarker, who featured in his first T20 since the last T20 World Cup, also couldn’t bring his side into the game with a flurry bat as he was dismissed for 23 off 17 balls by Milne.
However, Shakib, who came in at four, played single-handedly to take his side to 160 before he gave a catch behind the stumps for 70 by Tim Southee.
Bangladesh will play their fourth and final game of the competition against Pakistan ahead of their ICC T20 World Cup campaign on Thursday at 8 am Bangladesh Standard Time.
