The Bangladesh team management still had confidence in Liton Das. There were indications that the Bangladesh opener would return to form in the game. But his innings stopped with 29 runs from 23 balls. However, in today’s match against Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh’s batting rider Shakib Al Hasan’s experience. His innings of 46 off 36 balls has played a big role in the heat of Muscat in the collection of Bangladesh. However, captain Mahmudullah had a bigger role. Bangladesh gave a 161-run challenge to Papua New Guinea in the allotted 20 overs in a stormy innings of Saifuddin with a 52-run innings from his 27-ball captain. This is the highest collection of Bangladesh in T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh did not have a good start even today. Mohammad Naeem returned with a catch in the deep square leg in the second ball of the innings. He would have been out on the first ball, but his poke from outside Morea off the stumps did not reach the Papua New Guinea wicketkeeper properly.
Leaving the team score zero, Naeem’s return was a push for Bangladesh. But Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan did not let it be a big hit. They handled the situation with a pair of 50 runs from 41 balls. Liton seems a bit more confident today than in the previous two matches. He was trying to play singles. Slap sweep hit a six. But he was swept out. Bauer caught the ball and stood at deep mid wicket.
Shakib also played singles. He also had to give the call of his teammate batsman. Getting out singles in the intense heat of Muscat is a lot of hard work. That’s what he did, with fellow batsmen. Shakib hit three sixes in his innings, no boundaries. He returned with 46 runs off 36 balls after losing to fatigue. But his misfortune was enough. Long off Charles Amini is one of the best catches of this year’s T20 World Cup.
Mushfiqur Rahim could not return to form even though he regained some confidence in Liton’s batting. He could not make more than 5 runs from 8 balls. He caught the ball in the hands of Atai. But Mahmudullah was saved. He has batted with jaw-dropping promise. He was quite aggressive from the beginning. His fifty is the fastest fifty so far in this year’s T20 World Cup. His innings was 50 off 26 balls. He caught Ravu at mid-wicket off Soper. However, there has been a small drama about his outing. The umpire checked the no ball after Ravu took the catch. ‘Notout’ was first shown on the giant screen. Immediately, however, the mistake is corrected. Mahmudullah hit 3 boundaries and 3 sixes in his innings.
Bangladesh’s innings could have been bigger. After Mahmudullah was dismissed in 18.2 overs, Nurul Hasan returned in the sixth ball of the over. Bangladeshi batsmen have once again pointed the finger at the problem of losing wickets at important times. Afif was also set. But he was dismissed for 21 off 14 balls with a catch in the hands of Ravu. He hit 3 boundaries. But it must be said that the fielding of Papua New Guinea was great. They did not make mistakes in the catches. Especially the two catches that Shakib and Afif have returned were great. It has been said earlier that the catch of Shakib Amini is the best yet in this tournament.
Bangladesh wants a quick innings from Saifuddin towards the end of T20. Today he gave it as a gift. In the end, his innings of 19 runs from 8 balls reached Bangladesh in a big collection. Bangladesh scored 20 runs in the last over. Only 19 runs came from Saif’s bat.
