The much anticipated T20 World Cup 2021 is here with the First Round games! Eight teams divided into Group A (Bangladesh, Scotland, Oman, PNG) and Group B (Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia) will battle amongst themselves for the four available spots in the Super 12 stage! This is how the two games on the first day went by:
Match #1: Oman defeated Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets
Home team Oman won the toss as they opted to bowl first against Papua New Guinea. PNG have soon lost their first two wickets with just one run on the board within the first 2 overs. A wicket-maiden to start the T20 World Cup 2021 while it ended with four consecutive sixes in the 2016 edition! PNG recovered well to get to 70/2 at the halfway stage. However, it all went downhill for PNG from there!
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| Image Credits: ICC |
Charles Amini (37 off 26) and captain Asaad Vala (56 off 43) departed in quick succession as the 81-run stand for the third wicket was broken! A complete collapse later had seen PNG only managed to 129/9 in 20 overs. Oman's Zeeshan Maqsood effected this collapse with a 4-wicket haul (4/20 in his 4 overs).
In reply, Oman openers (Jatinder Singh (73* off 42) and Aqib Ilyas (50* off 43)) did not break a sweat as they chased down the target with all 10 wickets in hand and 6.2 overs to spare in their innings! This is only the third time a team had won a T20 World Cup match with all 10 wickets in hand! Australia (vs Sri Lanka in 2007) and South Africa (vs Zimbabwe in 2012) were the two previous instances!
Brief Scores: Oman - 131/0 in 13.4 overs (Jatinder Singh - 73*, Aqib Ilyas - 50*) defeated PNG - 129/9 in 20 overs (Assad Vala - 56, Zeeshan Maqsood - 4/20) by 10 wickets
Match #2: Scotland defeated Bangladesh by 6 runs
This is certainly the biggest upset in the T20 World Cup 2021! Having lost to Scotland in this first game, Bangladesh are now on the verge of elimination from this event! They need to defeat both Oman and PNG in their remaining two games to have the qualification in their control or else their fate would be tied to Net Run Rate!
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| Image Credits: ICC |
Having opted to field first, Bangladesh bowled really well picking up the first 6 wickets for just 53 runs! Bangladesh had put Scotland under tremendous pressure but they managed to come out on top eventually! A 52-run stand for the 7th wicket and a late flourish had helped Scotland get to 140/9 in 20 overs. This was a distant target when they had lost their first 6 wickets but they held their nerve to post a competitive total on the board.
During the chase, Bangladesh has had crucial contributions from their middle-order but they failed to get over the line! Eventually, Bangladesh fell short of the target by 6 runs in the end conceding a crucial victory for Scotland! Scotland all-rounder Chris Greaves (45 off 28, 2/19) bagged the Player of the Match award for his crucial performance in this tight victory!
Brief Scores: Scotland - 140/9 in 20 overs (Chris Greaves - 45, Mahedi Hasan - 3/19) defeated Bangladesh - 134/7 in 20 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim - 38, Brad Wheal - 3/24) by 6 runs
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