(Cricket news) Bangladesh started their ICC T20 World Cup with a disappointing loss to Scotland in their Group B match and went on to win against Oman and Papua New Guinea to qualify for the super twelve. They finished at the bottom in the super twelve group 1 table as they lost all their five matches to end their run at this year’s World Cup.
Bangladesh came close to winning the match against Scotland as they lost by 6 runs while chasing a low target. They came back with a comprehensive victory over Oman in the next match as they performed on the batting and bowling front to record a 26 run victory. In their final match before the super twelve, they qualified with a thumping 84 run victory over Papua New Guinea with Shakib Al Hasan taking 4 wickets and scoring 46 runs.
In the super twelve stage, their first match was against Sri Lanka where Bangladesh scored a winnable score of 171 in twenty overs as the batters scored well. In the bowling department, captain Mahmudullah tried 7 bowlers including himself but could not stop the Lankans as they won the match by five wickets with an over to spare.
In the next match, Bangladeshi batters failed miserably against the England bowlers as they could only muster 124 runs in twenty overs. The England batters did the job in 15 overs with the loss of two wickets for a comfortable victory as Bangladesh now needed victories in their remaining matches to have a chance to be in the semifinals.
The team next faced defending champion West Indies in their third match in the super twelve stage. The West Indies batter struggled to score as the scoreboard read 142 all out in twenty overs, Bangladesh batters had an attainable target as they came on the crease. Shakib Al Hasan opened along with Mohammad Naim but the run rate moved too slow even though wickets were in hand. Wicket keeper Liton Das top scored with 44 and captain Mahmudullah produced late fireworks with a 24 ball 31 as the team fell short of 3 runs at the end of the game.
In their fourth game, Bangladesh were almost out of the semifinal race as they faced South Africa in their fourth match. The Bangladeshi batters once again failed against the Proteas bowling as they bundled out for 84 in 19 overs. The South African batters took 14 overs to score 86 runs as they were held on in the beginning with timely strikes by the Bangladeshi bowlers. With this result Bangladesh had given up hope as there was one match left and they still did not have a win on paper.
In their final super twelve match, Bangladesh faced Australia as the batters once again were a no show as the team recorded their second consecutive double digit score of the tournament. The Australian batters had a target of 74 to win which they did achieve in just 7 overs as Mustafizur Rahman proved to be the most expensive giving away 36 runs in his two overs. Bangladesh ended their run at the World Cup with a disappointing performance as the batters performed poorly in most of the matches.
Shakib Al Hasan was the stand out performer for Bangladesh even though he did not play the last two matches. Shakib ended as the leading wicket taker for the team with 11 wickets from 6 matches and scored 131 runs in the tournament. Mohammad Naim finished as the leading run scorer with 174 runs and 2 fifties in seven matches.
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