Posted by Game 6 of the T20 World Cup, both sides Oman and Bangladesh were up against each other playing their 2nd game of round 1 fixtures. Bangladesh with the bat were impressive but missed a good finish and were a few runs short. Oman during the chase did feel early jerks but failed to switch gares.
Bangladesh won the toss and opt to bat first. BANGLADESH’S XI : Liton Das, Mohammad Naim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah (C), Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
OMAN’S XI : Aqib Ilyas, Jatinder Singh, Zeeshan Maqsood (C), Kashyap Prajapati, Naseem Khushi (wk), Mohammad Nadeem, Ayaan Khan, Sandeep Goud, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan, Fayyaz Butt.
Bangladesh did have a defensive start upfront in the powerplay and the dot ball pressure built from both ends saw Oman have their first as Liton Das on 6(7) made his way back. Fayyaz Butt in his first over striked a key wicket as Mahedi Hasan made his way back for a 4 ball duck. Bangladesh did have a good over that got the scorecard to 29-2 at the end of powerplay. Opener, Naim held his end tight and along with Shakib Al Hasan stitched a crucial partnership that wasn’t very fiery but odd boundaries and good runnings helped them get to 63-2 at halfway mark. Bangladesh shift gares, take momentum and were dealing in boundaries. It required something special to break the dangerous partnership and was a strong arm throw, direct hit from Aqib and Shakib on 42(29) was ran out and the well paced 80 run partnership saw curtains. Naim on the other end with a four got to his brilliant half century on debut. Wasn’t much on the other end as Nural walked back on 3(4), Afif Hossain on 1(5) and Oman are back in it striking wickets in quick succession. Khaleemullah got the wicket of set batter, Naim on 64(50); departed for a fantastic fifty. Fayyaz Butt soon had 2 in 2 he striked Mushfiqur on 6(4) and handed Saifuddin a golden duck; Mahmudullah denied a hat-trick. Bangladesh managed a hit or two before Bilal Khan bagged a couple in the last over of the innings as Mahmudullah’s cameo on 17(10) came to a close and Mustafizur on 2(3) was the last wicket to fall. 153 was what Bangladesh manage as the middle order collapse saw them finish poor.
Oman started well and let momentum slip in the middle overs but did well toward the end. Bilal Khan, Khaleemullah and Fayyaz Butt bowled their 4 with good economy and bagged 3, 2 and 3 wickets respectively. Mohammad Nadeem in his 4, Aqib and Zeesham in their 2 were expensive with Zeesham having a wicket to his name. A fantastic bowling effort to comeback and restrict Bangladesh to 153.
Oman in reply did have a good first over but lost a key wicket in Aqib Ilyas on 6(6) as Mustafizur straightaway was in action, despite a wicket on ball 1 it was an over of 5 wides and a maximum comforted their score. Oman did manage good overs and just before the end of 6 they lost a wicket more in Kashyap who walked back on 21(18) as Mustafizur had his second. Oman finsihed powerplay on 47-2. The powerplay was a good foundation set that Jatinder Singh and Zeeshan Maqsood banked on but couldn’t get many big overs and there was pressure building and at halfway mark Oman were 70-2. A struggling Zeeshan on 12(16) made his way back and it was Mahedi Hasan with the breakthrough. A wicket got another as the need was to accelerate, Shakib striked a set Jatinder on 40(33). A few defensive overs and Saifuddin was back into the attack and striked a wicket as Sandeep Goud on 4(8) walked back. Shakib bowling his final over bagged 2 wickets, Ayaan Khan on 9(13) and Naseem Khushi on 4(6) made their way back. Mustafizur in the 18th over bagged a couple of wickets as Khaleemullah on 5(5) and Fayyaz Butt on 0(2) departed. Mustafizur would have wished a T20I fifer but Nadeem denied one. Towards the back end it just wasn’t a gettable equation for Oman and so it remained as Bangladesh comfortably bagged the win by 26 runs.
Mustafizur topped the wicket charts with 4 but was expensive with economy of 9 in his 4 overs. Taskin Ahmed was decent in his 4 and Mohammed Saifuddin was outstanding with a very economical bowling effort and was rewarded with a wicket. Spinners again stole the show, Mahedi Hasan’s only wicket was the breakthrough wicket that turned the game for Bangladesh and finsihed with economy of 3.5 in his 4. Shakib Al Hasan, the leading T20I wicket taker added three more to the tally.
Bangladesh with the bat set a defendable total and did the task in style with a 26 run win. Oman again showed great spirit and were in a winning position but the acceleration saw wickets fall in cluster and with the tail in to bat Oman had lost it. Bangladesh with the win can now eye the super 12 qualification.
Bureau of sports 