Bangladesh was completely but assured of being qualified for the primary round of the World Twenty20 after inflicting an eight-wicket defeat on Nepal today.The tournament host was actually the only team in its group with two wins from two games, and is favored to declare the qualifying place after it play with winless Hong Kong on Friday.
Nepal, which beat Hong Kong on Sunday, never seemed like challenging when it was confined to 126-5, and Bangladesh rushed to 132-2 in 15.3 overs.
Shakib Al Hasan was playing extremly well and scored 37 off 18 balls and sealed the victory with his fourth six immediately after declining to run a winning single on the earlier ball.
Another greatly talented Anamul Haque scored 42 off 33 balls, and shared an opening stand of 63 with Tamim Iqbal, who made 30 as Nepalese bowlers found it tough to handle the wet ball beneath heavy dew.
Earlier, after deciding to bowl first, Bangladesh medium fast bowler Al-Amin Hossain took 2 wickets in three balls to have Nepal at 39-3 before captain Paras Khadka (41) and Sharad Vesawkar (40) added 85 for the fourth wicket.
"The toss was very much important as dew will play its role during the play and it was very harder to hold the ball," Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said.
Khadka rued the point that his batsmen could possibly not hit a single six while Bangladesh batters shattered 9 in their brisk run-chase.
"Nepal required 140-plus to challenge Bangladesh in these circumstances," Khadka said. "We got stuck and did not rotate strike in the middle ... lacked the huge hits too."
