Scotland beat Bangladesh as T20 World Cup begins

AFP

Scotland stunned Bangladesh after a brilliant all-round performance from Chris Greaves helped to secure a thrilling six-run victory in a preliminary round match of the Twenty20 World Cup, which got underway in Muscat on Sunday.

Kyle Coetzer's team recovered from a precarious 53-6 after a horror start and went on to post a competitive 140-9 thanks largely to Greaves' belligerent 45.

Greaves then returned to claim 2-19 and help restrict Bangladesh to 134-7 in the see-saw contest.

Put into bat, Scotland were in trouble early after Mahedi Hasan (3-19) and Shakib Al Hasan struck twice in the same over to wreck the top order.

Shakib also overtook Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga (107) as the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 Internationals in the process.

Greaves and Mark Watt, who made 22, lent respectability to Scotland's total but Mustafizur Rahman claimed two wickets in two balls in the final over to restrict them to under the 150-mark.

When they returned to defend the total, George Munsey took two catches to send back both the Bangladesh openers.

Mushfiqur Rahim hit spinner Michael Leask for back-to-back sixes to ease the pressure but eventually threw away his wicket after making 38.

Skipper Mahmudullah made 23 but his team could only get 17 of the 24 runs they needed from the final over from Safyaan Sharif.

"It was my day, I think, today," Greaves said after collecting the player-of-the-match award.

"There'll be many other days that any one of us in that squad could be a part of. I'm just so glad that I could contribute to what I did."

Earlier in the first Group B match, co-hosts Oman thumped debutants Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets, chasing down a modest victory target with 6.2 overs to spare.

Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood led by example, claiming 4-20 to restrict Papua New Guinea to a below-par 129-9.

Skipper Assad Vala scored 56 and Charles Amini made 37 but their middle and lower order let Papua New Guinea down.

Omani openers Jatinder Singh (73) and Aqib Ilyas (50) killed off the contest smashing unbeaten fifties.

Singh sealed victory with the fourth sixth of his knock, sending an Amini long-hop over midwicket.

The top two teams from this group will make the Super 12 stage from October 23 in the United Arab Emirates. 

More from Sports News

On Virgin Radio today

Trending on Virgin Radio

  • BRED Abu Dhabi

    BRED Abu Dhabi, Presented by Hypebeast, is back April 24-28 in Yas Bay. The line up is next level and locked in.

  • Jason Derulo on the Kris Fade Show!

    The super-star and multi-award-winning singer-songwriter, Jason Derulo is bringing the heat to Dubai.

  • Mais Vault on the Kris Fade Show!

    The boys tried their 'pick up' lines on Mais Vault and things did not go according to plan...

  • ARN News Centre

    Get the latest UAE and world news from our award winning team of journalists. The ARN News Centre is the country's most trusted source of information.