Bangladesh overcame a spirited performance from Nepal to win by 21 runs and seal their place in the Super 8s stage of the T20 World Cup.
In a tense encounter, Nepal fell short of their first win over a Test-playing side as they failed to chase a target of just 107.
Tigers seamer Tanzim Hasan’s magical 4-7 triggered a top-order collapse to 26-5 but late resistance from Dipendra Singh Airee, with 31, kept Nepal’s hopes alive.
The Associate nation were in the game with 23 needed from the last 17 balls, but Mustafizur Rahman bowled a wicket maiden in the 19th over to all-but secure victory.
The win sees Bangladesh join India, Afghanistan and Australia in Group One for the next round, and eliminated the Netherlands.
Bangladesh suffered a shocking batting collapse of their own, including opener Tanzid Hasan falling from the first ball of the game, slipping to 30-4 by the end of the six-over powerplay.
They played some reckless shots and ran poorly between the wickets in the face of Nepal’s accurate bowling and their high energy in the field, but a late flurry of runs from Taskin Ahmed and Rishad Hossain helped tick the score over 100.
Despite the low total, it proved beyond Nepal’s reach on a pitch offering turn and bounce for the spinners and plenty of seam movement for the pace attack, allowing Bangladesh to successfully defend the lowest total in men’s T20 World Cup history.
The result also ended the Netherlands’ slim hopes of qualification, though they were subsequently heavily beaten by 83 runs by Sri Lanka, who picked up their first win.
Sri Lanka posted 201-6 – the joint-highest total of the World Cup so far – with Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka both top-scoring with 46 before the Dutch were skittled for 118, with Nuwan Thushara taking 3-24.
