Bangladesh began their ICC World Twenty20 campaign on a winning note with a four-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates in their first warm-up match, but not before sweating it out in the middle against the semi-professional unit at Fatullah on Wednesday.
The top order failed to deliver as expected and showed their lack of application against the minnows before a revival led by Mahmudullah (33 not out) and Farhad Reza (10) saw Bangladesh cruise to victory, with the hosts reaching 146-6 in 18.5 overs after restricting the opposition to 142-7.
Bangladesh were struggling at 112-6 before the duo added a valuable 34 runs in their unbroken seventh-wicket partnership to avoid embarrassment in front of approximately two thousand spectators at Fatullah. Farhad hit a cracking straight drive for four to win the match.
Apart from Mahumudullah, who put forth a confidence-building effort, only opener Tamim Iqbal could take some positives out of the match, as he returned to the national fold and put some runs under his belt following an absence due to a neck injury.
Tamim made 43 and added a valuable 58 runs with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (27) to revive the innings when Bangladesh fell to 17-2 after both Anamul Haque and Sakib al Hasan paid the price of their ambition.
Anamul exited without opening his account after trying to heave the ball over mid-wicket, only to be caught at square leg, while Sakib was on nine when he flicked the ball to mid-wicket to give 33-year old left-arm pace bowler Manjula Guruge two early wickets.
Sakib was lucky to get off the mark, as his second shot went straight to mid-on, only to be dropped.
Tamim showed some maturity by not going with the trend and instead focusing on building the innings, helping to build the platform for Bangladesh’s first limited-overs victory after nine consecutive home defeats in ODIs and T20Is combined.
Bangladesh failed to show a killer instinct with the ball against the UAE, allowing them to post 142-7 in 20 overs after inviting them to bat first in front of a partisan crowd at Fatullah.
Openers Amjad Ali (19) and Faizan Asif (31) did not allow the Bangladeshi bowlers to penetrate from the start and gave the hosts an idea of their ability before Farhad finally broke the partnership in the fifth over.
Pace bowler Rubel Hossain kept the trend of missing catches alive as his late start from the boundary rope prevented him from getting close to a ball lofted by Amjad.
Amjad hit two successive boundaries before he eventually departed when Mushfiq took a decent catch
at mid-off circle, but his earlier reprieve raised further questions about the fielding ability of the young Bangladeshi side, which has seen more than its fair share of drops since the start of Sri Lanka’s tour at the end of January.
Faizan and captain Khurram Khan began to dominate proceedings in their typically aggressive fashion, hitting
boundaries at will before the former departed trying to heave one over mid-wicket. Faizan’s 22-ball 31 included a six off Nasir, the only one during the UAE’s innings.
Khurram, who has been one of the backbones of his nation’s cricket, looked to be at ease while facing the Tigers’ bowlers, who lacked discipline.
Khurram made 44 before being bowled by Farhad when he tried to sweep the pace bowler. The UAE also managed to see off Bangladesh’s primary bowling threat without incurring any damage, as Sakib remained wicket-less and conceded 28 runs in his four overs.
BRIEF SCORES
UAE 142-7 in 20 overs (Khurram 44, Faizan 31; Farhad 2-25) v Bangladesh 146-6 in 18.5 overs (Tamim 43, Mahmudullah 29 not out, Mushfiq 27; AM Guruge 2-25, Amjad 2-25).
Result: Bangladesh won by 4 wickets.
-With New Age input
