T20 WC
T20 WC: Bangladesh advance to Super 12s as Group B runners up
In the last match of Group B in Round one of the ongoing T20 World Cup, Scotland beat the hosts Oman, and thus Bangladesh advanced to the Super 12s as the runners-up of Group B.
In the first match of Super 12s, Bangladesh will play against A 1— Sri Lanka likely to take this place— on October 24. In the second match, Bangladesh will take on England on October 27, and after that, Bangladesh will face off West Indies, South Africa and Australia respectively on October 29, November 2 and 4.
Scotland became the champions of Group B and advanced to the Super 12s B 1. They will now join India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and A 2 in Group 2 of the Super 12s phase.
Shakib takes most wickets in T20 WC to equal Afridi’s record
Bangladesh’s all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan equalled the record of Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi of taking the highest 39 wickets in the T20 World Cups.
He earned the feat by taking four wickets conceding only nine runs in his four-over spell against ongoing T20 World Cup match against Papua New Guinea in Muscat on Thursday.
Shakib’s four-wicket haul helped the Tigers register an 84-run win against Papua New Guinea in the ongoing T20 World Cup and book a place in the next phase of the World Cup— the Super 12s.
Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2021: Shakib Al Hasan Reaches Three Unique Milestones
In Thursday’s match, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first. They posted 181 for 7 in 20 overs. Mahmudullah Riyad posted 50. In reply, Papua New Guinea tumbled for 97 for all wickets in 19.3 overs. It was Bangladesh’s biggest in terms of runs.
“We’re getting more confident playing each game. The defeat in the first match was a setback, but in the T20 format, the team that is better on the day wins. But now the pressure is off and we can play expressively,” Shakib said.
Afridi took 39 wickets in 34 matches of the T20 World Cups between 2007 and 2016. Shakib needed 28 matches to touch Afridi’s record. Along the way of taking 39 wickets, Shakib registered three four-wicket hauls, while Afridi has two four-wicket hauls.
Read: Shakib becomes highest-wicket taker in T20Is
On Thursday, Shakib also scored 46 runs off 37 balls which helped him to earn the player of the match award. In the previous match against Oman, he also was the player of the match.
In the previous match, Shakib became the highest wicket-taker in T20 Internationals surpassing Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga.
Tigers to put onus on skill over power: Mahmudullah on eve of T20 WC
The latest edition of the ICC T20 World Cup is all set to commence from Sunday in Oman. On the first day of the event, Bangladesh will take on Scotland at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground Oman Cricket on Sunday at 8pm Dhaka time.
The match will be telecast in Bangladesh by Gtv, T Sports, and Btv while Rabbithole will telecast through YouTube.
Ahead of the first match, Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad said they will focus more on skilled batting instead of power-hitting which is more popular in the shortest format of international cricket.
“We know we don’t have power-hitting batters like other teams do, but we are confident in our skilled hitting ability. We will focus more on this skill in the World Cup,” Mahmudullah told in the pre-event press conference on Saturday in Muscat.
Bangladesh lost both of their warm-up matches in the UAE against Sri Lanka and Ireland. The Tigers’ captain believes it won’t be doing anything to damage the confidence of the players. He also thinks that the underperforming Mushfiqur Rahim is only one good innings away from finding his old form back.
“Mushfiqur is a batter who has the ability to turn the contest our way at any moment,” Mahmudullah said. “As a cricketer, you can go through a bad patch at any moment, and at the same time, you can get out of at any moment. I believe Mushfiqur needs only a good match to get back to form. We are not bothered about him. He can do well tomorrow (Sunday).”
Read: T20 World Cup 2021: Bangladesh vs. Scotland Match Preview
Domingo to sort out players for T20 WC from Pakistan series
Head coach of Bangladesh National Cricket team Russell Domingo has said he will start to sort out the national squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup from the ensuing Pakistan series beginning on January 24.