By Brian Thomas
Bangladesh came up with an excellent performance to beat “B” group rivals by 26 runs Oman at the Oman Cricket Academy a short while ago.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Tigers made 153 all out in their allotted 20 overs.
The main architect was Shakib Al Hassan who made 42 runs, took 3 wickets for 28 runs to steer his country in a decisive match.
The green boys lost two wickets 21 runs during the power play, but opener Mohamed Nadeem made a quickfire 64, along with Shakib Al Hassan to stitch an 80 run partnership for the third wicket, with the latter making 42. Hassan was run out, a victim of a direct hit whilst attempting a cheeky single.
A middle-order collapse got the winners poker-faced on 122 runs for 6 wickets at one stage. They made a come back to get past the 150 mark to end their innings on 153.
The home team was guilty of dropping 3 catches, which put them on the back foot. Fayyas Butt took 3 wickets for 30 runs, however, seamer Bilal Khan looked impressive with his 4 for 18 for the hosts.
Oman in pursuit was on the hunt on 81 runs for 2 wickets with Jatendra Sing making a well compiled 40. It was evident that Oman lacked experience in milking the runs in the middle overs.
Mahedi Hussan who was out for a duck batting at number 3, came back strongly to contain an Omani onslaught with 1 wicket for 14 runs in his 4 allocated overs. Muztafizur Rahman despite his 6 wide deliveries, proved that he is a wicket-taker in this format. The Southpaw took 4 for 36, whilst Shakib Al Hassan Hassan made inroads with 3 scalps.
Oman lacked experience, in their pursuit to make a game of it in the latter overs, losing wickets on a regular basis.
Bangladesh will fancy their chances in their final game against Papua New Guinea, scheduled for Thursday. A win against the Minnows will see them through.
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