Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s record four-wicket haul was key in Bangladesh’s 21-run win over Nepal that took the Tigers into the Super 8 stage as the final team in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup.
Invited to bat first, Bangladesh suffered a nightmare and finished with just 106 on the board.
A defeat to the ICC Associate team would have put into jeopardy Bangladesh’s prospects of advancing to the second round of the tournament but Tanzim came to the rescue.
The right-arm seamer was phenomenal as he gave away only seven runs in four overs, picked up four wickets to break the Nepal top-order and finished with a record 21 dot balls.
With the momentum, Mustafizur Rahman joined the party at the latter stage of the game.
The left-arm paceman ended up with three wickets in four overs to help restrict Nepal to 85 and this is the lowest total ever defended by a team in Men's T20 World Cups.
“We just wanted to keep things simple. We wanted to bowl in good areas and did not want to panic. We knew we could defend this score. Everybody bowled well. As a bowling attack, we bowled well and that is why we defended the score. I just want to be aggressive and execute my plans. We are really excited for the Super Eight. We are very confident about it and hopefully (we can do well). Spin-bowling was tough, and it was not easy to get those runs. We held our lines and lengths, and it worked,” said Tanzim following the match at Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent Monday [BST].
Apart from his heroics with the ball, Tanzim caught attention for his aggressiveness towards the Nepal batters.
There was one moment when the Bangladesh bowler got involved in a verbal exchange with Nepal captain and top-order batter Rohit Paudel.
The umpires had to intercept the two players.
“You have to keep attacking irrespective of the situation [Bangladesh having a low score to defend]. Attack is the best defence and I believe in this. I was telling him [Rohit], it is not easy brother, it is not easy. Alhamdulillah, we won the match,” said Tanzim.
Despite the flying start, there was a point when the game could have slipped from Bangladesh as Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla started reviving the Nepal innings.
The duo added 52 off 58 before Mustafizur removed Kushal to get Bangladesh back into the tie.
Nepal soon went from 78 for six in 16.4 overs to 85 all-out in 19.2 overs.
“We never lost hope. We knew there is Mustafizur to take care of the business at the end. The team believe in him. He finished four overs with three wickets conceding just seven runs and had a wicket maiden in the 19th over,” said Tanzim.
Bangladesh team will travel to their next destination, Antigua, for the first two Super 8 clashes.
Bangladesh will first meet Australia Friday at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
At the same venue, they will then face former champions India a day later.
For their third and final match of the phase, Bangladesh will return to Saint Vincent to take on Afghanistan Tuesday.
A team will need to secure at least two wins to make it to the semi-finals of the world event.
