Ali, Woakes, Mills and Roy help England beat Bangladesh by eight wickets
England 126 for 2 (Jason Roy 61, Dawid Malan 28*, Nasum Ahmed 26/1) beat Bangladesh 124 for 9 (Mushfiqur 29, Mills 27/3) by eight wickets
England and Bangladesh squared off against each other at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi in a Group 1 match on Wednesday.
Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah won the toss and opted to bat first.
Moeen Ali floored Bangladesh with two early wickets
England skipper Eoin Morgan brought spinner Moeen Ali straightway into the attack from the first over. Moeen took two back-to-back wickets in the third over of the innings, to send Bangladesh on the back foot.
Opener Liton Das tried to play a sweep shot but the ball took top-edge of the bat and went into the hands of Liam Livingstone at deep square leg, after scoring just 9 runs. On the next ball, second opener Mohammad Naim went for a lofted stroke over mid-on but couldn't time it well and Chris Woakes took an easy catch inside the ring.
With two back-to-back wickets, Bangladesh set their hopes on their most experienced pair Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim to rescue the team. However, Shakib lost his wicket as fielder Adil Rashid took a tough catch at short fine leg to send the all=rounder back to the hut.
Bangladesh went from bad to worse
Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah stitched a partnership of 37 runs for the fourth wicket. In the eleventh over, Mushfiqur got out on 29 while playing a reverse sweep to Livingstone. Afif Hossain got run out on 5 by a quick throw of Tymal Mills. Also, Woakes caught Mahmudullah at backward point. Mills bagged the wickets of wicketkeeper batter Nurul Hasan and Mahedi Hasan to worsen Bangladesh’s condition.
As wickets continued to tumble, Bangladesh reached the woeful position of 97/7. However, due to some attacking strokes by Nasum Ahmed to leggie Adil Rashid helped Bangladesh to a total of 124 at the loss of nine wickets.
Read More: ICC T20 WC 2021 - Super 12, ENG vs WI - Ali, Mills, Rashid blow away WI for 55; Eng win by 6 wkts
Jason Roy bestowed flying start to England
Like his counterpart, Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah handed over the new ball to a spinner, Shakib Al Hasan. England opener Jason Roy smashed two consecutive boundaries to left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman in the second over of the innings.
Wicketkeeper batter Jos Butler got out while he was trying to slog the ball over extra cover off Nasum Ahmed. Roy subsequently smoked a maximum over long on off Mahedi Hasan in the sixth over and followed it by hitting a boundary of the next ball.
One down batter David Malan also started to free his arms and struck two boundaries to Nasum Ahmed in the eighth over of the innings. Roy continues his assault on the opponents. He smacked a maximum to Ahmed again, also smacked another six to Shoriful Islam in the next over. He completed his fifty in just 33 deliveries to help his side to reach close to the target.
Nasum Ahmed took Roy’s catch off Shoriful’s bowling at third man and the England opener departed after playing a match-winning knock of 61 runs off just 38 balls. Malan and Jonny Bairstow helped their side reach the target comfortably in the end.
What lies Ahead
After winning straight two games, table-toppers in Group 1, England will play their third match in the Super 12 round against Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 30. On the other hand, after two losses in the Super 12 round, fifth-placed Bangladesh will be at odds with West Indies at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on October 29.
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