Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s star all-rounder, led his country to a 26-run victory over co-host Oman in the T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh came into the game in Muscat needing a win to keep their hopes of reaching the Super 12 stage alive. They chose to bat and were bowled out for 153 runs.
After the Tigers lost two early wickets, left-hand opener Mohammad Naim (64 off 50 balls) and Shakib set up Bangladesh’s victory with a crucial second-wicket stand of 80. Shakib Al Hasan, the star all-rounder, took three wickets and scored 42 runs.
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Mustafizur Rahman (4-36) and Shakib then shared seven wickets to restrict Oman to 127-9 as Bangladesh rebounded from their opening Group B loss to Scotland.
“We’ll take this win, but I think there are a lot of areas we need to improve,” captain Mahmudullah Riyad said afterward.
“Shakib and Naim batted brilliantly, forming good partnerships that helped us reach 150. However, we should have performed better with the new ball. A lot of wides were bowled.”
Oman opener Jatinder Singh smashed 40 off 33 balls before succumbing to Shakib’s left-arm spin, and the wicket appeared to deflate Oman.
Shakib struck twice in a row, but Mohammad Nadeem stopped him and went on to make 14 not out.
Mahedi Hasan’s four overs of finger spin were impressively economical, yielding figures of 1-14.
After a strong partnership between Naim and Shakib, Oman’s fast bowlers Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt each took three wickets to keep Bangladesh at bay.
Naim, who took over for Soumya Sarkar in the crucial match, survived two dropped catches on 18 and 26 to reach his third T20 half-century.
With better catching, the Oman bowlers could have limited Bangladesh to a much lower score, as Kashyap Prajapati dropped two chances and Jatinder spilled another.
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