Bangladesh knocks Nepal out of T20 World Cup with a 21-run victory

KATHMANDU, June 17: Bangladesh on Monday knocked Nepal out of the ICC T20 World Cup with a 21-run victory in the last group stage match held on a tricky surface at Arnos Vale as batsmen from both sides struggled to score runs.

Chasing a modest target of 107 runs given by Bangladesh, Nepal were bundled out for just 85 runs with 4 balls to spare.

Although Bangladesh struggled with the bat on the tricky pitch, making 106 all out in 19.3 overs, a devastating spell of 4-7 by pace bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib put Nepal in trouble at 26-5.

Nepal recovered but another three-wicket haul by left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, including a maiden in the penultimate over, dashed Nepal’s hopes as the team was bowled out for 85 in 19.2 overs.

For Nepal, Kushal Malla topscored the 27 runs while Dipendra Singh Airi contributed 25 runs and Ashif Sheikh played an innings of 17 runs. Apart from that, none of the players from Nepal could even score in double digits.

Nepal's Anil Sah, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami and Avinash Bohra were duck out, while Sandeep Lamichhane and Captain Rohit Paudel returned to the pavilion scoring 1 run each. Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed after scoring 4 runs.

On the bowling side, the day belonged to Tanjim Hasan Shakib who took the most 4 wickets and Mustafizur Rahman for his three-wicket haul. Shakib Al Hasan took 2 wickets while Taskin Ahmed took 1 wicket.

Earlier, Bangladesh, who lost the toss and were invited to bat first, scored 106 runs with 3 balls left in the allotted 20 overs.

Nepal, buoyed by the return of star player Sandeep Lamichhane, put Bangladesh players under pressure from the start and none of the players could score even 20 runs. Shakib Al Hasan added 17 runs after opener Tanjid Hasan was dismissed for a duck. Mahmudullah and Rishad Hossain scored 13 runs each while Zakir Ali and Taskin Ahmed scored 12 runs each. Captain Najmul Hossain Santo was dismissed for 4 runs while Liton Das was dismissed for 10 runs. Tohid Hridoy contributed 9 runs.

Nepal's Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airi, Sandeep Lamichhane and captain Rohit Paudel took 2 wickets each to limit Bangladesh to 106 runs.

Bangladesh qualified for the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup after finishing second in Group D behind South Africa and will join Afghanistan, India and Australia in Group 1 of the Super Eights.

Nepal ended its quest in the T20 World Cup with three losses while one match was wiped out by rain.

Nepal lost its first match against the Netherlands by six wickets. The second match against Sri Lanka was abandoned due to rain as both teams shared a point each. In the third match, Nepal lost a nail-biting thriller against South Africa by one run and then faltered against Bangladesh to bow out of the shortest format of world cup which it played after a gap of ten years.