It was a stroll in the park for Bangladesh who breezed past Nepal by eight wickets and 27 balls to spare in their second Group A game in the ICC World Twenty20 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.
The game was expected to be one-sided, but the determination and dedication from the Nepalese in their maiden match against a Test playing nation was admirable.
It was known that dew will play a big role in the night affair and Tigers skipper Mushfiqur Rahim wasted no time in opting to field first after winning the toss.
With dew already coming in to play the ball was difficult to grip which took some bite off the Bangladesh attack, but nothing could be taken away from the 85-run partnership between the No 4 and 5 Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar.
The duo concentrated on playing the full 20 overs and showed great patience in the middle before blasting in the last five overs to land a respectable 126 for five.
The Tigers however showed no mercy in chasing the small total as they pounced on to every opportunity of sending the ball over the rope.
Anamul Haque started from where he left off in the first match as he slammed a six over fine leg and a four from point in the first over.
Tamim Iqbal, who made 30, joined the party soon and showed no hesitation in using his feet to clear the boundary, but one slog too many cost the local boy his wicket as he was caught at short third man which ended the 63-run opening stand.
Anamul was looking in sublime touch before a silly miscommunication saw him run out making 42 off just 33 balls. Sabbir Rahman, promoted to No 3, and Shakib al Hasan began an onslaught that saw the pair add 53 runs in 5.1 overs as Bangladesh raced to 132 for two to secure their second consecutive victory.
Sabbir (21) struck a four and six each while Shakib at the other end smashed whatever came his way. Shakib struck four big sixes along with a boundary to remain unbeaten on 37 from just 18 balls.
Earlier, Nepal were off to a shaky start losing opener Subash Khakurel in the fourth over to Farhad Reza before Sagar Pun and Gyanendra Malla tried to use the powerplay to utmost effect.
First Sagar took nine of Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s third over, fifth of the innings, followed by Malla who struck two fours in the next over bowled by Shakib.
However, Al Amin, who conceded eight off his first over, returned with a double blow for the Nepalese.
Al Amin caught Sagar off the first ball and three deliveries later got the ball to nip back which struck Malla plumb in front. At 39 for three it was looking like the start of a collapse for the Associate nation, but their skipper and Sharad had different ideas.
They picked up the odd boundary while the wet outfield allowed them to maneuver for singles. It was a mystery why Mahmudullah, who conceded just eight runs off his four overs in the previous match, was not used as Mushfiq opted for “medium pacer” Nasir Hossain instead.
Nasir, who usually bowls off spin, was impressive in the first over giving away just a single, but his inconsistency cost 21 runs in the next 12 balls he bowled.
After settling in both Paras and Sharad played some innovative shots – scoops and drives over the extra cover – which were a treat to the eye and in the process they also ticked the scorecard past 100.
However it was one of his innovative attempts where he moved across his stumps trying to chip over the fielder at short fine leg that saw his stumps rattled by Mashrafe in the penultimate over.
The Nepalese captain made 41 off 35 balls before Sharad (40), frustrated on his new partner Bhandari who failed to connect three balls in a row in the last over by Al Amin, was found short of crease on the last ball trying to sneak a single from Mushfiq.
