Bangladesh beat Nepal to claim final T20 World Cup Super Eight spot

KINGSTOWN (Agencies): Bangladesh grabbed the final spot in the Super Eight phase of the Twenty20 World Cup with a 21-run victory over Nepal on Sunday. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and his team joined India, Australia and Afghanistan in Group 1 of the Super Eight following their victory in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Pace bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib was the standout performer for Bangladesh, taking four for seven as Nepal struggled to 85 all out off 19.2 overs in reply to Bangladesh’s 106 from 19.3 on yet another Caribbean pitch offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers. Shanto praised the performance of his bowlers in another low-scoring match in the tournament. “We are not scoring much but we know we can defend low totals if we can pick up early wickets,” he said. Former champions Sri Lanka, who finished third in the group and did not progress, concluded their campaign with an 83-run victory against the Netherlands in St Lucia. Sri Lanka amassed 201 for six with Kusal Mendis (46), Charith Asalanka (46) and Angelo Matthews (30 not out) leading the charge and the target was always beyond the reach of the Dutch team, who were bowled out for 118 from 16.4 overs. “After bad first two games this win is very healthy for us,” said Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga. “The wicket was really good, we just wanted to put a 160-170 scores on this wicket.”

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 106 (Shakib 17, Kami 2-10, Lamichhane 2-17, Paudel 2-20, airee 2-22) beat Nepal 85 (Malla 27, Tanzim 4-7, Mustafizur 3-7) by 21 runs.