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Tigers pull off great escape to earn Super Eight spot

Published:Tuesday | June 18, 2024 | 12:09 AM
Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah Riyad reacts as he walks off the field after losing his wicket during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match against South Africa at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Westbury, New York, on June 10. Banglade
AP
Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah Riyad reacts as he walks off the field after losing his wicket during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match against South Africa at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Westbury, New York, on June 10. Bangladesh batsmen have struggled despite making it to the Super Eights.

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC):

BANGLADESH NEEDED their seamers to rescue them as they survived a major scare against Nepal late Sunday night before booking their spot in the next round of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

Dismissed for 106 in the final over on a turning pitch at the Arnos Vale Stadium, Bangladesh then found themselves staring at defeat when Nepal reached 78 for five in the 17th over – requiring only 29 runs from the last 20 balls of the contest.

However, left-armer Mustafizur Rahman removed the defiant pair of Kushal Malla (27) and Dipendra Singh Airee (25) to finish with three for seven from his four-over spell, following up on Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s new-ball burst of four for seven, to deliver a 21-run victory for Bangladesh.

With the win, Bangladesh finished second in Group D on six points, two behind group winners South Africa.

“First of all, [we’re] very happy that we are going to play Super Eights and as you mentioned, our batting is not up to the mark to be very honest,” said Najmul Hossain.

“But the way our bowlers bowled [in the] last three, four matches, we’re really happy, and I hope they will continue their form.

“And as a batting group we need to do our proper [planning] that we can come back from [the] next round.”

Sent in, Bangladesh were terrorised by Nepal’s spinners – leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane (2-17) and off-spinners Rohit Paudel (2-20) and Dipendra Singh Airee (2-22) joining medium pacer Sompal Kami (2-10) – to dismantle the innings.

No Bangladesh batsman passed 17.

In contrasting fashion, yesterday, New Zealand quietly left the T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket win over minnows Papua New Guinea (PNG).

A team which had reached the final of the 2021 edition and the semifinals one year later, mustered only their second win to finish third in Group C behind hosts West Indies and Afghanistan, after easily chasing down PNG’s 78 with nearly eight overs remaining.

“It’s just finished for us, obviously. Having said that, it took a long time to start and then in a matter of days, we were sort of not in contention which was frustrating,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said afterwards.

“We wanted to start the campaign strong and we weren’t able to do that. We played against a couple of very strong sides who are very well equipped in these conditions and unfortunately it was the difference in our first two games.”