Bangladesh cricket team have scripted a massive record by successfully defending the lowest target in T20 World Cup history during their clash against Nepal in St Vincent.
Najmul Hossain Shanto and Co. were scheduled to face Nepal to play their last group match of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Bangladesh was under pressure to win this game in order to qualify for the Super 8 stage of the tournament.
In the first inning, Bangladesh batters struggled to face Nepal’s bowling attack and managed to score just 106 runs in their crucial game. Bangladesh who have a quality bowling line-up turned things in favour of their team.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib played a vital role in the team’s successful bowling attack with his four-fer. With a tight bowling attack, Bangladesh won the game by 21 runs after bundling up Nepal for 85 runs.
Bangladesh with this victory surpassed South Africa’s previous record of defending 114 against the same team(Bangladesh) in the very same tournament(T20 World Cup 2024).
Lowest targets successfully defended in T20 WCs
- 107 Ban vs Nepal Kingstown 2024
- 114 SA vs Ban New York 2024
- 116 SA vs Nepal Kingstown 2024
- 120 SL vs NZ Chattogram 2014
- 120 Ind vs Pak New York 2024
Speaking of the match, Nepal won the toss and opted to bowl first. Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das opened the innings on behalf of Bangladesh. In the very first delivery, Sompal Kami dismissed Tanzid Hasan for a golden duck and shocked every Bangladesh cricket fan.
In the very next over, Dipendra Singh bagged the wicket of Bangladesh Captain – Najmul Hossain Shanto for just 4 runs and loaded pressure on the Bangladesh batters.
With two quick wickets, Bangladesh was expected to make a steady inning in the powerplay but Nepal bowlers gave no time for their opponents to plan. Within the first powerplay, Bangladesh lost four wickets for just 31 runs and made a struggling start in their most important game.
While Mahmudullah was expected to build a partnership with Shakib Al Hasan, he lost his wicket in an unexpected run-out dismissal while scoring 13 runs. At the end of 10 overs, Bangladesh scored 57 runs for five wickets.
Soon Rohit Paudel in the 12th over bagged a huge wicket by dismissing Shakib Al Hasan for 17 runs which restricted Bangladesh to score 69 runs for 6 wickets at the end of 13 overs. Lamichhane who missed the first two encounters of the T20 World Cup 2024 bagged his first wicket of this edition by dismissing Tanzim Hasan Sakib for 3 runs.
In his very next over, Tanzim Hasan Sakib struck against and dismissed Jaker Ali and registered his 100th T20I wicket. At the end of 16 overs, Bangladesh scored 75 runs for eight wicket loss.
With Taskin Ahmed’s 12 off 15, Bangladesh managed to cross the 100 runs mark and ended up scoring 106 runs after losing 10 wickets with three balls to spare.
Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh made a steady start in Nepal’s 106 run chase game. But Tanzim Hasan Sakib dismissed Kushal Bhurtel for 4 runs in the third over and made the early breakthrough.
In the same over, Hasan Sakib dismissed Anil Sah for duck and loaded pressure over the Nepal batters. At the end of the over, Hasan Sakib and Rohit engaged in a heated argument which increased the tension of the game.
Rohit Paudel too fell for Tanzim’s quality bowling attack without making an impact on the scoreboard.
Mustafizur for his part dismissed Aasif Sheikh in the final over of the first powerplay and pushed Nepal to grieve.
At the end of 10 overs, Nepal scored 42 runs for five wickets loss while Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla started to build a decent partnership. The duo made a 52 runs stand before Mustafizur broke the partnership by dismissing Kushal Malla in the 17th over.
Following his wicket, Nepal’s lower-order batters started to lose wickets in back-to-back overs and failed to continue the momentum. Nepal lost all their 10 wickets for 85 runs and fell 21 runs short for the victory with 3 balls to spare. Tanzim Hasan Sakib was awarded the Player of the Match award for his extraordinary bowling spell.
