Bangladesh cricket team switched to Twenty20 mood ahead of their home series against South Africa when they played warm-up match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday. Members of the national team and High Performance Unit were divided in BCB Red and Green, respectively led by national captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza and vice-captain Sakib al Hasan.Mashrafee’s Red won by six runs but not before their opponents were given a huge revised target.
Batting first, Red scored 136 runs in their 20 overs on the back of half-century made by Nasir Hossain, who scored 57 off 43 balls with seven fours.
Imrul Kayes was other notable run-getter with 34 off 24 balls while skipper Mashrafee and Rony Talukdar added 14 and 11 runs respectively.
Among the Red batsman, Mushfiqur Rahim was the biggest flop making just one run before he was run out.
Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam grabbed 3-25 for BCB Green while Sakib claimed 2-19. Mustafizur Rahman and Jubair Hossain took one wicket apiece.
Replying to the modest target, Green looked to have eased into a win when they reached 128 runs in just 12 overs. They were then given a revised target of 196 runs which they narrowly missed.
Tamim Iqbal made highest 52 runs for Green facing 30 balls and hitting seven fours and two sixes. Tamim shared 92 runs with Ananmul Haque in the opening stand with the latter making 48 off 32 balls.
Sakib promoted himself in one-down and nearly took his team home with 43 off 22 balls. Sabbir Rahman claimed 2-22 for BCB Red while Sohag Gazi, Arafat Sunny, Nasir and Shafiul Islam claimed one wicket each.
Bangladesh will face South Africa in two Twenty20 internationals at Mirpur on July 5 and 7.
-With New Age input
