Scotland posted a moderate total of 140 for nine in 20 overs against Bangladesh on Sunday at Muscat. It was the first match of the T20 World Cup for both teams.
Mahmudullah Riyad won the toss and sent Scotland in to bat first.
Bangladesh made the better start as with the score on 5/0, Mohammad Saifuddin removed Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer for a duck in the third over.
They recovered a bit though, and in the powerplay, Scotland scored 39 losing one wicket. In the last over of the powerplay, Mustafizur Rahman conceded 13 runs with a four and a six.
In the eighth over, Mahedi Hasan struck twice to remove two set batters — Matthew Cross and George Munsey— for 11 and 29 respectively.
Like Mahedi, Shakib Al Hasan also made a double-strike in the 11th over to send Richie Berrington and Michael Leask back to the dressing room.
With these two wickets, Shakib became the highest wicket-taker in T20 Internationals surpassing Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga. Shakib now has 108 scalps to his name, while Malinga has 107.
At the end of the 15th over, Scotland were at 86 for 6. In the last five overs, they added 54 runs which guided them to 140 for 9— a moderate total.
In the 18th and 19th over of the innings, Taskin Ahmed and Saifuddin conceded 15 and 12 respectively.
Chris Greaves was the best batter for Scotland as he posted 45 off 28 balls with four fours and two sixes. In the seventh-wicket partnership, Scotland added 51 with the wonderful batting effort by Mark Watt and Greaves.
For Bangladesh, right-arm spinner Mahedi bagged three wickets conceding 19 runs while Mustafizur and Shakib tow wickets each.
Bangladesh now needs to score 141 in 20 overs to make a good start to their T20 World Cup campaign.
Source: United News of Bangladesh