Bangladesh in disarray- register defeat in the tournament opener

Bangladesh’s skillset and calibre got exposed in a decent track on their tournament opener as Scotland registered their first win by a margin of 6 runs. 

Throughout the entire innings, the target of 141 runs never looked gettable. Both openers - Soumya and Liton - got removed for 5 each by Josh Davey and Brad Wheal respectively. Bangladesh managed to post only 25/2 in the powerplay. 

Afterwards, the senior campaigners - Shakib and Mushfiq - took a bit of time to settle down in the middle. At one stage, Bangladesh were 38/2 after 8.3 overs. Mushfiqur Rahim then decided to break the shackles and cleared the ropes twice in back to back deliveries against Michael Leask. 

Shakib however never got going. His struggle of 20 runs off 28 deliveries ended in the hands of Chris Greaves.

In the space of a couple of overs, Greaves removed a well-set Mushfiqur Rahim (38 off 36) to have Scotland in the driving seat. 

Bangladesh were on their knees at 93/4 at the end of 16 overs, requiring 49 off 24 at a rate of more than 12 runs per over. 

Things got worse as Afif (18 off 12) failed to clear the fence against Mark Watt and got caught in the deep in the 18th over. 

Both Shohan (2 off 3) and Mahmudullah (23 off 22) departed in the space of three deliveries of Brad Wheal in the penultimate over on the long-on boundary in the safe hands of MacLeod. 

Saif hit a four and Mahedi struck a four and a six in the final over but all those were too little too late for Bangladesh to get over the line. 

Earlier in the game, Scotland posted 140/9 on the board. The innings can be divided into exactly two halves - the former being dominated by the bowlers as Scotland were 55/6 at the end of the twelfth over and the latter being capitalised by the batters as they accumulated 85 runs in the last eight overs. 

Chris Greaves, who has had the game of his life with both bat and ball, led this carnage with his 45 off 28 at a strike rate of 160.71. 

Shakib Al Hasan picked up two wickets on his way to becoming the leading wicket-taker in the history of T20I, surpassing Lasith Malinga (107 wickets). 

Mahedi Hasan was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh with a spell of 3/19 in four overs. Mustafiz was in the mix with two while Saifuddin and Taskin claimed one each. 

Without a shadow of a doubt, Chris Greaves received the player of the match award for his amazing all-round performance (45 runs and 2 wickets).

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