Batting intent on display at last

It was not the best of starts with the bat from Bangladesh but the positive approach yielded a much better performance for the Tigers on their last qualifying group game of the ICC T20 World Cup against Papua New Guinea at the Al Amerat Cricket Stadium in Muscat yesterday.

Bangladesh went on to post their highest score in their ICC T20 World Cup history -- of 181 for 7 in 20 overs -- surpassing their previous best of 180 for 2 against Oman back in 2016.

Compared to the first two qualifying matches, Bangladesh's lack of intent in the Powerplay and the inability to go for the late launch in the final stage of the innings were neutralised considerably in their latest batting display.

Although the Tigers initially had a bit of a shaky start, having lost the half-centurion of the previous game Naim Sheikh without troubling the scoreboard, they managed to shrug it off to score 45 for 1 after six overs — Bangladesh's best score so far in the flagship event and also their first 40-plus score in the Powerplay after 12 games.

There were no individual heroics but everyone played their part in a collective approach that helped the Tigers post the highest score of the qualifying round in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup from group B.

Liton Das, after missing out on the first two games, looked to have regained some sort of form alongside the in-form Shakib Al Hasan, who picked up from where he left off in the previous game.

Bangladesh were six for one after the second over before Liton broke the shackles with a slog sweep for a six to Chad Soper in the third over. And soon, Shakib joined the party with a maximum in the next over and slowly the Tigers started to gain momentum.

Liton perished after scoring 29 off 23 balls before Mushfiqur Rahim, coming at his usual number four position, continued his poor run of form. A soft dismissal saw Mushfiqur depart on five after handing a simple catch at deep-square leg off a long hop from Assad Vala.

Probably a lot of credit must be given to skipper Mahmudullah, who kept the tempo high in the middle overs while Shakib seemed tired under a hot and humid condition.

Shakib, who struck a one-handed slap for a six to Vala earlier and went for another, was caught brilliantly by Charles Amini, diving in front at long-on. The star allrounder's handy 37-ball 46-run knock featured three sixes.

Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain then made sure to rotate the strike in between hitting boundaries, a feature of the game that has been missing in the previous games from the Tigers.

Mahmudullah targeted the first ball of each over that worked well for Bangladesh's cause. 19 runs were scored in the 17th over off Soper where Mahhudullah struck two sixes and a four that saw him reach his second fifty in the T20 World Cup in just 27 balls. It also became the fastest fifty in the ongoing World Cup after which the Tigers' skipper departed in the next over while going for another big heave.

Mohammad Saifuddin utilised the long handle to great effect, striking two maximums and a four, to score 20 runs off the last over as Bangladesh added a whopping 68 runs in the last five overs of their innings.