Published: Mar 05, 2015, 02:36 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 05, 2015, 02:36 PM (IST)
Half through the game, many in the Bangladesh camp might have regretted the decision to bowl first and the Scottish would have already sensed a win. In the beautiful setting of Nelson, Bangladesh refused to crumble under pressure as they showcased one of their finest batting displays to comfortably chase down the stiff 319, posed by Scotland in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Earlier, powered by a brilliant 156 by opener Kyle Coetzer, Scotland put up 318 on the board. Quick wickets towards the end halted their progress or else they looked pretty set for 330. Not only the Bangladesh bowlers were hit all around the park, Bangladesh had more worries as they headed into the innings break knowing they would be without their opener Anamul Haque, who had hurt his right shoulder while fielding in the 31st over. Also their captain Mashrafe Mortaza hobbled around and couldn’t finish his quota of 10 overs.
Bangladesh lost their first wicket in the second over and Mahmudullah promoted to number three added 139 for the second wicket along with Tamim Iqbal. Even after the departure of the duo, wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim (60 from 42) and Shakib Al Hasan (52 not out from 41) continued scoring at a brisk pace. Despite of the injuries to key players, Bangladesh never looked out of sorts and pulled off a memorable six wicket win. This happened to be the second-highest run-chase in a World Cup game. With five points, the subcontinent side remain at the fourth position in the Pool A points table, and the win strengthens their chance for a semi-final berth.
Brief scores:
Scotland 318 for 8 in 50 overs (Kyle Coetzer 156, Matt Machan 35, Preston Mommsen 39; Taskin Ahmed 3-43) lost to Bangladesh 322 for 4 in 48.1 overs (Tamim Iqbal 95, Mahmudullah 62, Mushfiqur Rahim 60, Shakib Al Hasan 52*, Sabbir Rahman 42*) by six wickets
