ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from Bangladesh v New Zealand
Abhishek Purohit in Pallekele21-Sep-2012Tough gig of the day
You become the first man to make two hundreds in Twenty20 internationals, have to come back within minutes to keep wicket and also have a disappointed bowler stare at you. Big Jacob Oram didn’t hide his disappointment when Brendon McCullum put down a shoulder-high edge off Mushfiqur Rahim in the fourth over. “Tough being me” is not restricted only to Kevin Pietersen.Six of the day
McCullum muscled 18 boundaries during his century, including seven sixes. While power was the source of most of his runs, one six stood out for being incredulous even by McCullum standards. In the 15th over, barely two deliveries after James Franklin fell, McCullum charged Mashrafe Mortaza, who saw him coming and bowled short. McCullum had built up so much momentum in his charge that there was no turning back, short ball or not. He ended up sending it over the long-off boundary with a tennis forehand.Non-stroke of the day
McCullum’s big hits got all the attention, but apart from being dropped on 92, he hardly did anything wrong throughout his innings. In the 11th over, he jumped out to Shakib Al Hasan and again, his momentum sent a short delivery over deep midwicket. Shakib responded with sharp turn off his next ball, after angling it in from wide of the crease. For a batsman in such a belligerent mood, it could have been a difficult ball to tackle, but McCullum was in the zone. He went across, allowed the ball to turn and defended solidly.False alarm of the day
How would New Zealand fare against Bangladesh’s left-arm spin trio? Not too well, was the feeling when Martin Guptill fell to the second ball of the variety, bowled by Abdur Razzak. McCullum was around to alter that impression completely. By the end of New Zealand’s innings, Shakib Al Hasan, Elias Sunny and Razzak had been taken for 104 in 11 overs.
