World T20 Group Stage
Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets
Hosts Bangladesh and Nepal won their respective Group A matches on the first day of the WT20 2014 tournament. The victory over Afghanistan almost assures Bangladesh a passage through to the super-10s as only one team from this qualifying group would go through and the hosts have a better chance of winning over Nepal and Hong Kong, than they had against Afghanistan who beat them in the Asia Cup two weeks ago. Afghanistan, sent in to bat, were skittled for 72 in 17.1 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium as left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan grabbed three wickets for eight runs. The meagre total was the second lowest in the World T20 competitions, barely surpassing Ireland’s 68 against the West Indies in 2010. Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh and Afghanistan’s Dawlat Zadran were fined 50% of their match fees for Level 2 breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct. The incident happened in the ninth over of Bangladesh’s innings when Dawlat, in his follow through, made deliberate physical contact with Shakib, who, in turn reacted and made physical contact with the bowler.
Nepal beat Hong Kong by 80 runs
In the second match, Hong Kong were all out for 69 chasing Nepal’s 149/8. The memorable group A win at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium was set up by skipper Paras Khadka and Gyanendra Malla, who put on 80 for the third wicket after Nepal were reduced to 36/2 in 5.1 overs.
Bangladesh XI: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain & Wicket Keeper), Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Al-Amin Hossain, Abdur Razzak
Afghanistan XI: Mohammad Shahzad (Wicket Keeper), Nawroz Mangal, Karim Sadiq, Shafiqullah, Mohammad Nabi (Captain), Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shenwari, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Aftab Alam, Najeeb Tarakai
Hong Kong XI: Waqas Barkat, Irfan Ahmed, JJ Atkinson (Captain & Wicket Keeper), Babar Hayat, MS Chapman, Nizakat Khan, Tanwir Afzal, Aizaz Khan, Najeeb Amar, Haseeb Amjad, Nadeem Ahmed
Nepal XI: SP Khakurel (Wicket Keeper), Sagar Pun, G Malla, P Khadka (Captain), B Bhandari, S Vesawkar, NB Budayair, B Regmi, SP Gauchan, Sompal Kami, JK Mukhiya
1st Match, Group A – Bangladesh vs Afghanistan: Bangladesh 78/1 in 12 ov beat Afghanistan 72 by 9 wkts
2nd Match, Group A – Hong Kong vs Nepal: Nepal 149/8 beat Hong Kong 69 in 17 ov by 80 runs
