A six over extra cover was the best way Hong Kong could have landed their historic win against Bangladesh in the World Twenty20 yesterday.
Hong Kong scampered to 114 with two balls and two wickets to spare to humiliate the home side at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
However, despite the shameful defeat, Bangladesh progressed to the second round because of better net run rate than Nepal.
It was probably the best moment of 40-year-old Munir Dar’s life when his 27 ball 36 helped Hong Kong stage the comeback after the Bangladesh bowlers had them reeling at 50 for 5.
Earlier, it was the spinning duo Nadeem Ahmed and Nizakat Khan who shared seven wickets to set up the two-wicket win, their first against a Test playing nation.
Bangladesh’s embarrassing 108 not only enabled Hong Kong to win their first major game ever, but in the half way mark had also Nepal glued to the game as the latter would have gone through to the second round if Hong Kong achieved the target in 13.1 over.
More than losing Bangladesh’s fear was to not to let Hong Kong achieve the feat inside 13 over, and Mushfiqur Rahim did not hesitate at all to hand his best man Shakib al Hasan the ball upfront. Shakib had Waqas Barkat stumped in the second over, but Irfan Ahmed’s 28 ball 34, that had three fours and equal sixes, gave Hong Kong just the start they needed.
The momentum of the game shifted like a see-saw as Shakib struck twice in the 8th over before Al Amin and Mahmudullah also chipped in to send the minnows to back foot.
The crowd pressure and the inexperience was clear in Hong Kong’s approach which let Bangladesh come back in the game, but Munir and Nizakat added 33 runs for the sixth wicket to maintain the balance of the game.
With 26 required off 24, Munir struck two fours and a six off Farhad Reza to narrow the margin and effectively take the game away from Bangladesh.
Earlier, it was a batting scorecard that the whole of Bangladesh wouldn’t have ever imagined in their worst nightmare. Bangladesh, who romped to victories with 9 and 8 wickets in hand in the previous matches, had their middle-order tested for the first time in the tournament and they failed miserably to stand up against the disciplined Hong Kong bowlers.
The batsmen approached like 13-year old kids and looked clueless in the middle. Despite losing wickets continuously, the hosts seemed content on going for big shots without any plan or what-so-ever and only ended up with gloomy faces back to the hut.
After Tanwir Afzal handed Bangladesh a double blow in the first over, it was interesting to see how immature the Tigers, who literally play spin in domestic leagues the whole year round, were in facing the left-arm spinner Nadeem and leg spinner Nizakat.
With no runs on the board Tamim Iqbal, who chopped on to his stumps, was gifted a two-ball duck on his birthday before Sabbir Rahman was trapped lbw three balls later to silent the crowd. However, Shakib and Anamul Haque showed no sign of bogging down as they slapped the balls on all corners of the ground to add 48 in five overs.
Mushfiq and Shakib continued the onslaught after Anamul (26) departed, but after putting on 34 runs, the partnership was broken which saw the Tigers fall like a house of cards. Ridiculous shot selection saw Bangladesh throw their last six wickets for just 23 runs.
Shakib’s short arm jab went straight to mid wicket and though Mushfiq showed extreme disappointment while his partner was walking back, but what he did six balls later was a crime itself. The skipper, who survived a dolly to the wicketkeeper, instead of taking up more responsibility got out trying to heave a wide ball and ended up top edging to extra cover.
Mahmudullah made two before Farhad, Razzak and Rubel Hossain returned with ducks and when No 11 Al Amin holed out to long-on Bangladesh still had 3.3 overs to spare, but without any wicket.
