Qualifying Round
-Oman open World Cup account with 10-wicket triumph over Papua New Guinea
MUSCAT, OMAN: Scotland have beaten team Bangladesh with six runs in the second match of the first round of the T20 World Cup.
Scotland had given Bangladesh a target of 141 runs to win but the latter could only score 134 for 7 wickets at the end of the 20 overs of the second innings.
Bowler Chris Greaves was awarded the “Man of the Match” title as he picked up two wickets as well as scoring 45 runs.
Brad Wheal picked up the wickets of Nurul Hasan and Mahmud Ullah to leave Scotland in the ascendancy. While Mark Watt got his first wicket of the match by sending Afif Hossain back to the pavilion after scoring 18 runs.
Mushfiqur Rahim was the top batsman for the Bangladesh squad but he could only add 38 runs to his team’s score, which was not enough to meet the target set by the Scottish team.
The win has taken Scotland to the second spot in the Group A points table, where the top two teams will seal their place in Super 12.
At the beginning of the match, the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team, Mahmudullah, won the toss and opted to bowl first.
At the end of the 20 overs, Scotland scored 140 for 9. Half of Scotland’s team returned to the pavilion for 52 runs, after which Chris Greaves and Mark Watt batted responsibly to take the team’s score to 140 runs. Chris Greaves scored 45 runs, George Munsey scored 29 runs, while Mark Watt scored 22 runs. For Bangladesh, Mehdi Hassan took 3 wickets, while Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rehman took 2 wickets each.
Prior to the match, Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah had said: “This is a good wicket and more runs can be scored here, but we want to chase the target because of the dew at night.”
On the other hand, Scottish captain Kyle Kotzer said: “We are happy to bat first. If you give a good target, you can put more pressure in the second innings. There is dew but we have to deal with it.” It should be recalled that earlier in the day, in the opening match of the T20 World Cup, host Oman had defeated Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets.
Earlier, Oman were off to a flying start in the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday with a 10-wicket rout of debutants Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea were dismissed for 131 in 13.4 overs.
Zeeshan Maqsood’s men ticked all the boxes, with their bowling, catching and batting giving the home fans plenty to cheer about at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground on Sunday.
Maqsood himself took four wickets to help restrict the opposition to 129/9, before half-centuries for openers Jatinder Singh and Aaqib Ilyas eased them past the target in 13.4 overs.
Not much went PNG’s way after they found themselves 0/2 inside the first two overs, with captain Assad Vala’s fifty the only highlight for them on a difficult day.
Oman openers don’t break a sweat
The opening pair of Jatinder and Ilyas barely looked under pressure in the chase. They were solid rather than flashy during the Powerplay, with the first six coming only in the eighth over, off the bat of Ilyas. Jatinder, who was strong with the reverse sweep all day, was the first to bring up his fifty, off 33 balls. Getting to face a free hit, he got to the landmark with a six over long-on and brought out his trademark celebration.
Ilyas, who had been caught off a no-ball, got to his half-century in 43 balls, before Jatinder sealed the game with a final six.
