Bangladesh held their nerve to defend 106 runs in their last Group D match against spirited Nepal at Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent Sunday and sealed the much-coveted Super Eight spot of the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup.
While defending a total of 106 on a tricky wicket at the Arnos Vale, pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib unleashed a brilliant spell of fast bowling with accuracy and swing and conceded just seven runs in four overs with four wickets and two maidens.
Nepal were stuttering after seven overs losing half of their side for just 26 runs.
Kushal Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee then halted the slide and built a good partnership to bring them back into the game with a 52-run partnership.
But Mustafizur Rahman’s brilliance in the late stage of the game sealed Bangladesh’s victory eventually as they bowled Nepal out for 85 in 19.2 overs.
In-form Mustafizur was in his zone and carried his good form in the world event as he bagged three wickets in four overs leaking just seven runs.
When 22 runs were needed from the last two overs, Mustafizur even took a wicket maiden.
Apart from that, Shakib al Hasan took two wickets.
With the win against Nepal, Bangladesh now have three victories in four games and are pitted in Group A of the Super Eights with India, Australia and Afghanistan.
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel had earlier won the toss and elected to field first.
Bangladesh started their innings in the worst possible way as they lost the wicket of Tanzid Hasan Tamim in the very first ball.
It was a moment of madness from Tanzid as he charged down the ground against medium-pacer Sompal Kamil and only managed a top edge which was taken easily by the bowler.
Skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto continued his terrible run of form as he was cleaned up in the second over after scoring just four runs.
Losing Liton Das (10) and Towhid Hridoy (nine) made the situation bad for Bangladesh and it turned worse when Mahmudullah (13) got run out in the last ball of the ninth over.
Shakib was at the striker's end when the run out happened.
He played a gentle push towards cover and called for a quick single.
Mahmudullah went for the run but Shakib suddenly stopped in the middle and eventually the former was short in return.
Shakib was not able to rescue the Tigers this time as he also lost his wicket in the 12th over after making 17.
Bangladesh were wobbling at that point having lost their sixth wicket with just 61 runs in the scoreboard and it looked like they will be all out for under 100.
Some late resistance from the lower-order helped Bangladesh cross the 100-mark as they managed to post 106 in 19.3 overs losing all of their wickets.
37TH MATCH
Bangladesh 106 in 19.3 overs (Shakib 17, Rishad 13) beat Nepal 85 in 19.2 overs (Tanzim 4/7, Mustafizur 3/7) by 21 runs
