Tigers close to win against PNG in must-win encounter

Bangladesh are close to win agaisnt Papua New Guinea after a splendid show from the bowlers. Shakib AL Hasan picked up four wickets.

In the must-win T20 World Cup match against Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh posted 181 on Thursday riding on the batting of Mahmudullah Riyad and Shakib Al Hasan.

Bangladesh’s 181 for 7 is now the highest total in this World Cup so far. The Tigers have surpassed Sri Lanka’s 171 against Ireland in Abu Dhabi.

Shakib, who was the player of the match in the previous match against Oman, posted 46 off 37 balls while Mahmudullah posted 50 off 28 balls. They smashed six sixes and three fours together.

Bangladesh failed to have a good start once again as Mohammad Naim fell for a duck in the first ball of the match. However, on the second wicket, Shakib and Liton Das added 50 runs.

Liton was doing well but fell for 29 off 23 balls with one four and one six. Mushfiqur Rahim failed to impress with the bat as he was dismissed while playing a sweep when he was batting at 5.

On the fifth wicket stand, Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain added 43 off 23 balls. Afif ended up at 21 off 14 balls with three fours.

Bangladesh surpassed the 180-run mark with some wonderful batting display by Mohammad Saifuddin. In the last three balls, he scored 17 runs with a no-ball-six. Saifuddin remained unbeaten scoring 19 off six balls with two sixes and one four.

For Papua New Guinea, Kabua Morea, Damien Ravu, and captain Assad Vala took two wickets each.

In the first match of the group, Bangladesh lost to Scotland, but they bounced back in the match against the hosts Oman.

Bangladesh field an unchanged playing XI in this match.