Chris Greaves with his all-round performance helped Scotland to shock Bangladesh with a six-run win on Sunday’s opening day of the Twenty20 World Cup.
Greaves’ 28-ball 45 guided Scotland to 140-9 and the leg-spinner then took two key wickets to keep down Bangladesh to 134-7 in the second Group ‘B’ match of the day at the Al-Amerat Cricket Stadium in Muscat.
Greaves, who had earlier rescued Scotland from 53-6 with his batting as he sent star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, for 20 and senior batter Mushfiqur Rahim for 38 to make things difficult for Bangladesh in their chase.
Pace bowler Brad Wheal hailed figures of 3-24 as world number six Bangladesh suffered an early setback in the group stage of World Cup 2021.
Bangladesh spinners Mahedi Hasan and Shakib justified their captain Mahmudullah’s decision of bowling first by taking regular wickets but Greaves gave Scotland a strong-footed inning with the bat.
Scotland tried to rebuild after losing the skipper Kyle Coetzer for a duck but Mahedi soon struck twice in an over to send back Matthew Cross after scoring 11 and opener George Munsey for 29.
Shakib’s double strike and his wicket of Michael Leask (0) got him past Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga as the leading wicket-taker in T20 Internationals.
Shakib, who is the only player to achieve a T20 double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, returned figures of 2-17 while Mahedi was the wrecker-in-chief with 3-19.
Greaves who came to crease at number seven hit back four fours and two sixes in his 28-ball knock as Scotland plundered 53 runs from the last 30 deliveries.
In reply, Bangladesh lost their openers early before Shakib and Mushfiqur put on 47 for the third wicket to put the chase back on track.
Greaves broke the stand with his first ball getting Shakib caught at the boundary and then bowling out Mushfiqur in his second over.
Wheal rattled the middle order with key strikes including Mahmudullah for 23 and even a late burst by Mahedi could not take Bangladesh over the line.
Scoreboard
SCOTLAND:
H.G. Munsey b Mahedi 29
K.J. Coetzer b Saifuddin 0
M.H. Cross lbw b Mahedi 11
R.D. Berrington c Afif b Shakib 2
C.S. MacLeod b Mahedi 5
M.A. Leask c Liton b Shakib 0
C.N. Greaves c Shakib b Mustafizur 45
M.R.J. Watt c Soumya b Taskin 22
J.H. Davey b Mustafizur 8
S.M. Sharif not out 8
B.T.J. Wheal not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-4, NB-1) 9
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 140
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-45, 3-46, 4-52, 5-52, 6-53, 7-104, 8-131, 9-131.
BOWLING: Taskin Ahmed 3-0-28-1 (1nb); Mustafizur Rahman 4-1-32-2 (2w); Mohammad Saifuddin 4-0-30-1 (2w); Shakib Al Hasan 4-0-17-2; Mahedi Hasan 4-0-19-3; Afif Hossain 1-0-10-0.
BANGLADESH:
Liton Das c Munsey b Wheal 5
Soumya Sarkar c Munsey b Davey 5
Shakib Al Hasan c M’Leod b Greaves 20
Mushfiqur Rahim b Greaves 38
Mahmudullah c MacLeod b Wheal 23
Afif Hossain c Davey b Watt 18
Nurul Hasan c MacLeod b Wheal 2
Mahedi Hasan not out 13
Mohammad Saifuddin not out 5
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3) 5
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 134
FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-18, 3-65, 4-74, 5-106, 6-110, 7-116.
DID NOT BAT: Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
BOWLING: Wheal 4-0-24-3; Davey 4-0-24-1 (1w); Sharif 3-0-26-0 (1w); Leask 2-0-20-0; Watt 4-0-19-1; Greaves 3-0-19-2 (1w).
RESULT: Scotland won by six runs.
UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza (Pakistan) and R.A. Kettleborough (England).
TV UMPIRE: C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Chris Greaves (Scotland).
