Bangladesh beat Nepal to claim last Super 8 spot

KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent : Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman took seven wickets between them as Bangladesh beat Nepal by 21 runs Sunday to claim the last Super Eight place at the Twenty20 cricket World Cup.

Bangladesh now will play with India, Afghanistan and Australia in one Super Eight group while the United States, England, the West Indies and South Africa will play in the other.

The Super Eight stage starts on Wednesday.

In a thrilling, low-scoring match, Bangladesh’s qualifying hopes looked to be in the balance when it was bowled out for 106 in 19.2 overs after losing the toss.

But Tanzim (4-7) bowled his four overs consecutively, leaving Nepal’s innings in disarray at 26-5 after the seventh over. Nepal couldn’t recover and eventually was bowled out for 85 in the last over on a treacherous pitch at Kingstown, St Vincent.

“We just wanted to keep things very simple and bowl in good areas,” Tanzim said.

“We didn’t panic, we knew could defend this score and we were very confident about that.”

The pitch at the Arnos Vale Stadium provided sharp turn and bounce for the Nepal spinners who shared six wickets in the Bangladesh innings. Leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichanne took 2-17 to reach 100 wickets in T20 internationals.

Conditions also assisted the seamers with swing and often spiteful bounce. Sompal Kami took 2-10 from his three overs for Nepal, including a wicket for the first ball of the match.

But the tough conditions cut both ways.

While Nepal took advantage of them to dismiss Bangaldesh cheaply, Bangladesh did the same and to greater effect.

The match provided a catalogue of thrills from the moment Sompal dismissed Tanzid Hasan with the very first ball.

For no apparent reason Tanzid decided to charge the bowler who fired the ball hard into the pitch.

Tanzid’s shot came too late and he only managed to spar the ball back to the bowler.

Nepal let their control slip at the end of the Bangladesh innings when Mustafizur and Taskin Ahmed put on 18 for the 10th wicket including 11 from the 19th over.

Tanzim was superb at the top of the Nepal innings, giving Bangladesh the start it needed. He was fired up, ran in hard, created disconcerting bounce and swung the ball.

He bowled Bhurtel with his second ball of the match and dismissed Anil Sah two balls later. Tanzim clashed with Paudel at one point, causing the umpires to caution the Bangladesh captain. But Tanzim had the final say and dismissed Paudel to leave Nepal 20-3 in the fifth over.

Aasif Sheikh fell to Mustafizur in the sixth over, after which Nepal was 24-4.

Nepal were 42-5 after 10 overs and their hopes of ending the tournament with a win were revived by a 50 partnership for the sixth wicket between Kushal Malla (27) and Airee (25).

But the veteran Mustafizur (3-7) conceded only one run and dismissed Malla in the 17th over, then bowled a wicket maiden, removing Airee (25) in the 19th over to help seal the match. Nepal needed 22 from the last over and lost its last two wickets to the first two balls. “I think as a bowling unit we bowled really well but as a batting unit I think we could have done better, especially the top-order batsmen,” Paudel said. “Bangladesh bowled really well with the new ball.”

AP