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New Zealand batter Henry Nicholls lauded 'fantastic' Soumya Sarkar for his record-scoring knock in the second ODI.

Soumya who scored a duck in the first ODI made a strong comeback having played a swashbuckling innings of 169 runs off 151 deliveries smashing 22 fours and two sixes.

“Fantastic innings, 169 is not easy. As I said Soumya's innings was fantastic, it put a lot of pressure on us. Bangladesh scored 290 runs on his innings of 169 runs, that tells the whole story. Great innings, he is a quality cricketer and today he proved it,”

He also praised the 91-run partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim and Soumya which rescued their innings after being stumbled on 80-4.

“After four wickets, he formed a great partnership with Mushfiq. And that pair played a very important role. He not only batted throughout the innings but also scored runs. The way he built the contest was great, great innings. It was a great fight,” he added.

Soumya's 169 is the second highest individual score by any Bangladesh batsman and the highest against Kiwis earlier Litton Das scored 176 against Zimbabwe.

The third and final ODI will be played on December 23 before the sides take on each other for T20Is.