T20 World Cup cricket: Bangladesh beat Nepal by 21 runs

Kathmandu: Nepal has lost to Bangladesh in its final match of the Group stage under the ICC T20 World Cup cricket tournament.

Bangladesh beat Nepal by 21 runs in the match played at Arnos Vale Stadium in Vincent, West Indies. With this match, the equation of Group D in the World Cup has been completed.

South Africa and Bangladesh have reached the second round of the World Cup from the group. South Africa has reached the Super Eight with eight points, while Bangladesh has six points in the next round. Nepal, Netherlands, and Sri Lanka have been knocked out of the group stage.

Nepali leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane however has set a new record by taking 100 wickets in his 54th match of T20 International cricket. He took two wickets in the match against Bangladesh and completed 100 wickets. This is Sandeep’s second match in the ongoing World Cup. Rashid Khan of Afghanistan has a record of taking 100 wickets in 53 matches, the lowest in T20 Internationals.

Chasing the target of 107 runs set by Bangladesh to win, Nepal was bundled out for 85 runs losing all wickets in 19.2 overs. Kushal Malla top-scored for Nepal with 27 runs. He scored 27 runs in 40 balls with one four and a six. Dipendra Singh Airee scored 25 runs off 31 balls with two fours and a six.

Apart from Asif Sheikh, who scored 17 runs off 14 balls with four fours, other players could not score double-digit runs. Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed for four runs while Rohit Kumar Poudel and Sandeep Jora were dismissed for one run each. Anil Shah, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Sandeep Lamichhane, and Abhinash Bohora were dismissed for zero. Tanzim Hasan took four wickets for Bangladesh to limit Nepal’s batting performance.

Likewise, Sakib Hasan took two and Taskin Ahmad one wicket for Bangladesh. Invited to bat first after losing the toss, Bangladesh had scored 106 runs at the loss of all wickets in 19.3 overs.