Group B thrown wide open as Chris Greaves and Scotland stun Bangladesh

Entering the field with Scotland 52 for 5, Greaves added 78 runs with Mark Watt and Josh Davey to help drag his side to 140 before dismissing Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim with the ball

Al Amarat: Scotland 140-9, Bangladesh 134-7 - Scotland won by six runs

Scorecard

Chris Greaves was the star as Scotland defeated Bangladesh by six runs to throw Group B wide open in the second match of the 2021 T20 World Cup.

The 31-year-old, batting at seven, added 78 runs off just 47 balls alongside Mark Watt and Josh Davey to help rescue Scotland from 55 for 6 before taking the key wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim.

Watt also impressed for Scotland, scoring 22 off 17 and taking 1 for 19 with the ball, while Brad Wheal finished with figures of 3 for 24.

Sent in to bat in Oman, Scotland’s innings got off to a poor start with Kyle Coetzer departing for a duck inside three overs.

George Munsey and Matthew Cross safely navigated the remainder of the powerplay, helping Scotland to 39 for 1, before the introduction of spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan saw five wickets fall for just eight runs

Entering the attack in the eighth over, Mahedi Hasan took two wickets in three balls to dismiss Matthew Cross and George Munsey before Shakib Al Hasan repeated the feat in the 11th, his second wicket – Michael Leask – taking him beyond Lasith Malinga at the top of the all-time T20I wicket-taking charts.

Calum MacLeod followed five balls later, bowled by Mahedi Hasan after leaving his stumps exposed, but rather than collapsing, Scotland fought back, with Chris Greaves putting on 51 runs (34 balls) with Watt and a further 27 (13 balls) with Davey before departing for a quickfire 45 in the final over.

Mustafizur Rahman bowled Davey to set up a hat-trick ball but instead found himself pummelled for nine runs off the final three balls as Scotland closed on a spirited 140 for 9.

In reply, Davey and Wheal picked up the powerplay wickets of Souyma Sarkar and Liton Das, respectively, to leave Bangladesh struggling on 25 for 2 after six overs before a steady 47-run partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Rahim threatened to take the game away from Scotland.

However, in 12th over, captain Coetzer turned to his trump card, Greaves, who struck with his first delivery of the match to remove Shakib Al Hasan for 20.

He repeated the feat in his next over, bowling Rahim for 38 (36 balls) to leave Bangladesh needing 67 runs off just under seven overs without any of their top four batters.

Two fours off Davey’s final over restored Bangladesh’s faith in their chase but it would be short-lived, with Davey and Watt combining to remove Afif Hossain, and Wheal capturing the wickets of Nural Hasan and captain Mahmudullah (both caught MacLeod) in the final three overs to preserve Scotland’s 100 per cent winning record against the Tigers.