For a brief period yesterday it seemed as though Bangladesh would go on to etch another famous moment in their cricketing history; this time at the Seddon Park in Hamilton, against a side which many termed as the favourites to win the World Cup.

However in an agonisingly close finish to their last group match, Bangladesh went down to New Zealand by three wickets.

They might have lost, but the brand of cricket that they played yesterday won the hearts of millions. From negotiating a dangerous powerplay, where the ball was swinging ferociously to countering New Zealand's attacking strategy with their own aggressive tactics, they battled neck and neck.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and co can take plenty of positives from this game for their must-win encounter in the quarter finals against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 19.

The way Bangladesh survived the early trying overcast conditions against a vaunted bowling attack and then broke the norm to open the bowling with slow left-armers—only the first instance in ODI cricket— displayed just how much the Tigers have matured during the mega event. They have learnt to play according to their own strengths rather than focusing on their opponents.

After surviving the early onslaught Mahmudullah Riyad ensured that he stayed till the end, ace an unbeaten 128—his second consecutive ton in the World Cup-- and help Bangladesh post a fighting 288.

The batsman was at his elegant best; driving comfortably through cover and pulling the odd-delivery time and again with a lifted knee. Apart from getting dropped at the slips in the initial stages, he seemed resolute. And it therefore wasn't a surprise that he became only the eighth batsman to score consecutive World Cup tons. He reached his century courtesy of a fluent drive through covers off 111 deliveries. He went haywire after that smacking Mitchell Mclenaghan for three consecutive boundaries.

He stayed there till the end and shared a valuable stand with Sabbir Rahman to take Bangladesh past the 280-mark.

After the exchange two brilliant moves from skipper Shakib Al Hasan saw the departure of New Zealand's key batsmen—Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.

Both the in-form batters attempted to heave Shakib at the start of the innings and got caught. New Zealand effectively could have been three down had Bangladesh reviewed an LBW decision against Martin Guptill off Rubel Hossain. The umpire had given that not out as he heard two sounds.

Guptill made full use of that reprieve by sharing a century stand with Ross Taylor. While Taylor struggled to time the ball Guptill played with a straight bat and went on to score his sixth century. The pair shared a 131-run stand in the third wicket. The momentum of the game however shifted after Bangladesh took wickets at regular intervals once Shakib gave the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Guptill.

Ultimately though Daniel Vettori, who was dropped by Nasir Hossain late in the innings, smacked a six in the 48th over and New Zealand needed just 11 off 12 balls.

Shakib, who was captaining in place of the rested Mashrafe, opted to go with himself instead of Rubel Hossain in the 49th over and the move unfortunately led to the end of the game.

He was smacked for a six and a four in the first two balls by Tim Southee to bring an anti-climatic end to the match.

Unlike the competitive game at the Seddon Park, England romped to a comfortable nine-wicket win against Afghanistan at Sydney in the day's other game.