Another night of heartbreak ensued for Nepal. In a match of two halves, the Rhinos aced the first one with the ball, but failed miserably in the second with bat as Bangladesh registered a comfortable 21-run victory in St Vincent on Monday (June 17) to make their way into the Super Eight stage of ICC T20 World Cup 2024. (Highlights | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
The Bangla Tigers held their nerves and came up with a fabulous bowling display to overcome a spirited Nepal and storm into the next stage of the competition. Chasing a modest target of 107, Nepal were bowled out for 85 runs to end their T20 World Cup journey on a disappointing note.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib breathed fire with the ball, producing a career-best performance of 4-7. In an incredible spell of seam bowling, Tanzim delivered 21 dot balls off his unchanged 24-ball spell, and had the Nepal batters harried with pace, bounce, swing and seam movement. He bowled a double-wicket maiden that rocked Rohit Paudel and Co early and never let them recover.
Dipendra Singh Airee (25 runs off 32 balls) and Kushal Malla (27 off 40) put together a 52-run partnership that partially revived Nepal's hopes, but the Rhinos lost their last five wickets for just seven runs to go down tamely in the end. The seasoned Shakib Al Hasan (2/9) and Mustafizur Rahman (3/7) complemented Tanzim's early efforts with a clinical demolition job in the end.
Earlier, Nepal's bowlers came good again and had the Bangladesh batters on tenterhooks. Sompal Kami, Airee, captain Rohit Paudel and Sandeep Lamichhane picked two wickets apiece to chose the run flow while also prising out key wickets regularly, en route bowling Najmul Hossain Shanto and Co in 19.3 overs. The strong bowling show was to go in vain, however, for the second time in three nights.
Playing XIs
Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Rohit Paudel(C), Kushal Malla, Sundeep Jora, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Sandeep Lamichhane, Abinash Bohara.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (C), Litton Das (WK), Shakib Al Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh ended the group stage with three wins, and will meet Australia next in North Sound, Antigua for their Super 8s clash on June 21.
