Kiwis white washed by Tigers

Rubel Hossain's searing yorker uprooted New Zealand's long-standing bastion over the Tigers and, like his raised fist, took his team into new heights in world cricket. The incredibly tight three-run win on 17 October completed the much-coveted 4-0 whitewash of a major Test-playing nation, an exceptional highlight for Bangladesh.

The series win, especially the result, took Bangladesh on a par with West Indies in the International Cricket Council ODI rankings with 67 points, putting the Tigers within the top-eight for the first time in their 24-year international history.

The Tigers earlier beat the Kiwis by 9 runs in the first one-dayer, won the third by seven wickets and the fourth again by 9 runs. The second match was washed out.

The Kiwis, for their part, made a complete mess of chasing a moderate 175 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, faltering with their score on 171 runs in 49.3 overs.

With eight runs from six balls needed to win, tail-ender Kyle Mills guided Rubel's misguided full-toss to the boundary. A ball later though, the paceman returned the faith of captain Shakib Al Hasan by knocking back his leg-stump and picking up his fourth wicket, sending the Tigers and the 25,000-strong holiday crowd into wild celebrations.

Rubel, the boy from Bagerhat, had a say from the beginning of the New Zealand innings, sending back openers Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder cheaply and forcing Kane Williamson, the previous match's centurion, to guide one to the hands of second slip. After Bradley Watling's run-out, a lot depended on Ross Taylor but he too failed, missing a straight one from Abdur Razzak as the Kiwis collapsed to 20 for five.

It could easily have been 41 for six in the 13th over but Junaed Siddiqui dropped a simple catch at slip offered by Daniel Vettori's late cut off Mahmudullah Riyad. The New Zealand skipper latched on to that life as he added 86 runs for the sixth wicket with Grant Elliott.

The partnership threatened to take the game out of the Tigers' reach but again, one player's determination turned the tide.

In the 31st over, Vettori, on 43, chipped the ball between long-on and deep mid-wicket, only for Shafiul Islam to run 15 yards and dive full-length to his right to pull off a phenomenal catch. It instantly brought back memories of the same player's blinder during a Twenty20 final last season.

Soon though, Nathan McCullum took advantage of Junaed's slippery fingers as the Rajshahi lad misjudged one inside the circle at square-leg. But the older McCullum failed to make Bangladesh pay, failing to connect a charge towards Shakib Al Hasan a few balls later.

Elliott, witnessing the mayhem from the other end, reached his fifty through another dropped catch (by Mahmudullah) but he too, gave it up soon after getting a life. The right-handed batsman known for getting the Kiwis out of trouble, holed out at mid-on for 59 off 105 balls.

It was then left to the last pair of Mills and Hamish Bennett as they crawled towards what looked like an unlikely victory for the Kiwis. They added 26 with Bennett going unbeaten on nought from 24 balls.

Apart from Rubel's four, Razzak and Shakib got two each while Sohrawardi Shuvo picked up one wicket.

But there weren't as many twists and turns earlier in the day as the Tigers flattered to deceive with the bat, being bowled out for just 174 runs in 44.2 overs.

Imrul Kayes, who made 34, held fort after southpaws Junaed and Shahriar Nafees departed early. Shakib again made an effort to get the Tigers moving with his enterprising 36 but once his fifth-wicket partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim ended in the 29th over, things unravelled fast.

The Kiwis were better in the field and showed an aggressive intent that was missing in the three previous outings but with the bat in hand, they fell flat as the Tigers put the foot down and in the words of coach Jamie Siddons, "The whitewash became possible".