Tanzim’s four, Mustafizur’s three take Bangladesh into Super Eight

A fiery opening spell from Tanzim Hasan Sakib powered Bangladesh to a slightly tense win over Nepal, sealing their progress to the Super Eight stage. For the second game in a row Nepal had a Full Member side on the ropes with their bowling performance in Kingstown, but their batting order was blown away by Bangladesh’s fast bowlers.

A win, let alone a comfortable one, looked like a tricky prospect for Bangladesh after they were bundled for 106. Having come within two runs of chasing down a slightly bigger target against South Africa, Nepal would have fancied their chances of bagging their first win against a Full Member team, but Tanzim scythed through their top order with stunning figures of 4-2-7-4 that reduced Nepal to 26 for 5.

While the low asking rate meant Nepal could still keep their chances alive, Mustafizur Rahman put on a death bowling masterclass when Nepal needed 30 off 24 to help Bangladesh pull off the lowest successful defence in a men’s T20 World Cup.

Nepal found themselves in big trouble early when Tanzim struck twice in his second over – the third of the innings. Kushal Bhurtel missed a low full toss that swung away late to clip the off stump before Anil Sah toe-ended his effort to mid-off.

Taskin Ahmed created a couple of chances in the next over, and Tanzim reaped the rewards of the pressure built, with Rohit Paudel slapping a short and wide delivery straight to backward point. Tanzim nearly struck again in the over, but a leading edge from Sundeep Jora fell short of the bowler.

Mustafizur then had Aasif Sheikh caught at cover to complete an excellent powerplay for Bangladesh.

Tanzim bowled out in the seventh over, and picked up his fourth wicket when he had Jora caught at gully. He bowled a double-wicket maiden and a wicket maiden, and his 21 dot balls were the most by a bowler in a men’s T20 World Cup match.

From the start of the eighth over, there was a 23-ball boundary drought, with legspinner Rishad Hossain especially getting sharp turn. Dipendra Singh Airee finally swept Rishad for four off the last ball of the 11th over that helped Nepal reach 50 in the next over.

Malla and Airee consolidated for Nepal, shifting gears in the 16th over when Malla slog-swept Mahmudullah for Nepal’s first six of the innings. One ball later, he nudged him fine on the leg side for a four to bring up the fifty partnership. They were left with 30 to win off the last four.

Two of those four overs were to be bowled by Mustafizur, and he broke the burgeoning stand with a back-of-length cutter that was skied over mid-off. Najmul Hossain Shanto did well to settle under it running back and holding on to a tricky chance. Just the one run came off the over.

Nepal attacked Taskin when Airee slapped a six over point but the bowler gave away only one more run in the next five balls and also sent Gulsan Jha back. Mustafizur then bowled five dots on the trot as Airee kept swinging and failing to make contact. Airee looked to knock the last ball of the over for a single, but ended up edging behind to make the penultimate over a wicket maiden.

Shakib Al Hasan, wicketless in the tournament before the game, picked the last two wickets to complete a team hat-trick. This also made it the first time Bangladesh won three games in a T20 World Cup.

Sompal Kami struck first ball for Nepal, who opted to bowl, as Tanzid Hasan top-edged a short ball for a return catch to the fast bowler. Shanto was next to go, as Airee went through the Bangladesh captain’s defence in the next over.

Given a third over on the trot, Kami then got Litton top-edging a pull off a short ball that wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh settled under. It meant a poor run of form for Bangladesh’s top order, who have only contributed 122 runs in their four group stage matches.

Towhid Hridoy, Bangladesh’s best batter in the competition, hit two fours but top-edged an attempted slog sweep off Paudel to leave Bangladesh stuttering at 31 for 4 at the end of the powerplay.

Mahmudullah looked to regroup for Bangladesh along with Shakib, hitting two crisp boundaries off Sandeep Lamichhane, but was called for a run that was never there and ended up being run out at the non-striker’s end in the ninth over.

Shakib and Jaker Ali tried to consolidate, but Paudel got another breakthrough by dismissing Shakib, before Lamichhane bowled Tanzim and Jake with wrong’uns to put Bangladesh under threat of being bowled out under 100.

But Rishad Hossain and Taskin helped Bangladesh add 31 runs for the last two wickets that took them to 106.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 106 in 19.3 overs (Shakib Al Hasan  17; Sompal Kami 2-10, Sandeep Lamichhane 2-17, Rohit Paudel 2-20, Dipendra Singh Airee 2-22) beat  Nepal 85 in 19.2 overs (Kushal Malla 27, Dipendra Singh Airee 25; Tanzim Hasan Sakib  4-07, Taskin Ahmed 1-29,  Mustafizur Rahman 3-07, Shakib Al Hasan 2-09) by 21 runs

[Cricinfo]