Scotland Upset Bangladesh To Open T20 World Cup Campaign

Scotland defeated Bangladesh by six runs in their opening match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday in Oman. 

Chasing 141, Bangladesh lost Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar inside the powerplay and could only manage 25 runs in the first six overs. 

Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan added 47 runs in 46 balls for the third wicket. The duo was looking solid and threatened to take the game away from Scotland. With the Scotts bowling tight lines and making things difficult for the experienced duo, Rahim freed up his arms against Michael Leask in the ninth over to break the shackles. 

However, Chris Greaves changed the game in the 12th over as he removed Shakib on the first ball and in the next over, got the massive wicket of Rahim. 

With the asking rate increasing and wickets falling, Bangladesh never recovered and failed to reach the target by six runs as Scotland caused the first upset of the T20 World Cup 2021. 

Earlier, Scotland was asked to bat first and got reduced to 53/6 inside 12 overs. After losing Kyle Coetzer in the third over, George Munsey and Mathew Cross added 40 in 29 balls for the second wicket before Mehedi Hassan got the breakthrough in the seventh over. 

Post that dismissal, Scotts lost the next four wickets in no time. Chris Greaves and Mark Watt added 51 runs for the seventh wicket in 34 balls to revive the innings and made sure Scotland have a competitive total. 

Greaves smashed 45 from 28 with the help of four fours and two sixes while Watt scored 22 from 17. On the back of handy hitting by the lower order, Scotland reached 140/9 in the first innings. 

Brief Scorecard:

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2021

Scotland - 140/9 (Chris Greaves - 45; Mahedi Hasan - 3/19)
Bangladesh -  134/7 (Mushfiqur Rahim - 38; Bradley Wheal - 3/24)