Oman: Chris Greaves’ all-round performance helped Scotland upset Bangladesh in their T20 World Cup opener at Al Amerat Cricket Ground here on Sunday. Greaves cracked a fantastic 45 off just 28 balls to enable Scotland to reach a respectable total.
With the ball, Greaves weaved his magic and scalped two crucial wickets of Shakib Al Hasan (20) and Mushfiqur Rahim (38) in successive overs. Brad Wheal gave him solid support at the other end by picking up three wickets for just 24 runs.
Chasing 141, Bangladesh lost openers Soumya Sarkar (5) and Liton Das (5) early on, but the experienced duo Shakib and Mushfiqur stitched 47 runs stand for third wicket before Greaves put the brakes on the left-hander by pulling straight into the hands of Calum MacLeod at deep mid-wicket.
Greaves then had Mushfiqur clean bowled as he tried to execute the scoop shot. Afif Hossain (18 off 12) and captain Mahmudullah added 42 runs for the fifth wicket, before the former was caught at deep midwicket by Josh Davey. Mahmudullah smoked a huge six to raise hopes for Bangladesh, but was holed out to MacLeod after scoring 23 runs.
Earlier, Shakib and off-spinner Mahedi Hasan jolted Scotland's top order, who found themselves tottering at 53 for six. Mehdi grabbed three wickets, while experienced Shakib bagged two wickets. But, Greaves and lower order batsmen took the total to 140, which at the end proved sufficient.
Brief Scores: Scotland 140/9 in 20 overs (Chris Greaves 45, George Munsey 29; Mahedi Hasan 3/19, Shakib Al Hasan 2/17) beat Bangladesh by six runs; 134/7 in 20 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 38; Brad Wheal 3/24, Chris Greaves 2/19) (UNI)
