KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Bangladesh needed their seamers to rescue them as they survived a major scare against Nepal here late Sunday night before booking their spot in the next round of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.
Dismissed for 106 in the final over on a turning pitch at the Arnos Vale Stadium, Bangladesh then found themselves staring at defeat when Nepal reached 78 for five in the 17th over – requiring only 29 runs from the last 20 balls of the contest.
However, left-armer Mustafizur Rahman removed the defiant pair of Kushal Malla (27) and Dipendra Singh Airee (25) to finish with three for seven from his four-over spell, following up on Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s new ball burst of four for seven, to deliver a 21-run victory for Bangladesh.
With the win, Bangladesh finished second in Group D on six points, two behind group winners South Africa.
“First of all, [we’re] very happy that we are going to play Super Eights and as you mentioned, our batting is not up to the mark to be very honest,” said Najmul Hossain.
“But the way our bowlers bowled [in the] last three, four matches, we’re really happy, and I hope they will continue their form.
“And as a batting group we need to do our proper [planning] that we can come back from [the] next round.”
Sent in, Bangladesh were terrorised by Nepal’s spinners – leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane (2-17) and off-spinners Rohit Paudel (2-20) and Dipendra Singh Airee (2-22) joining medium pacer Sompal Kami (2-10) – to dismantle the innings.
No Bangladesh batsman passed 17.
