T20 World Cup 2021: Day 1 Review – Oman thrash PNG, Scotland take down Bangladesh
After the razzmatazz of the IPL, the T20 World Cup got underway today. Oman and Papua New Guinea faced off in the opening game while Bangladesh locked horns against Scotland in the second game of the day. It was an entertaining day overall with players giving it their all for their respective teams.
Oman thrash PNG by 10 wickets
It was a historic occasion for PNG today with them making their World Cup debut. But the game wasn’t as memorable. After being put in to bat, they lost both their openers with no runs on the board. However, their skipper Assad Vala and Charles Amini batted superbly to keep the scoreboard ticking. Rather at one stage, they looked good to post more than 150 runs on the board.
Oman get their #T20WorldCup 2021 campaign off to a flyer 🔥
They come out 🔝 against Papua New Guinea with 10 wickets in hand.#T20WorldCup | #OMNvPNG pic.twitter.com/G2Zi1ClvNT
— ICC (@ICC) October 17, 2021
Vala scored a valiant 56 while Amini smashed 37 runs before losing five wickets for just six runs in 14 balls to lose their way. Zeeshan Maqsood was the star with the ball for Oman returning with figures of 4/20. PNG could only post 129 runs on the board for the loss of nine wickets.
However, the Oman openers Jatinder Singh and Aqib Ilyas showed their class. PNG just couldn’t break the opening stand as Jatinder and Aqib batted superbly. Oman got over the line without losing even a single wicket in 13.4 overs. Singh remained unbeaten on 73 runs while Aqib scored 50 off 43 balls.
Scotland upset Bangladesh in a thrilling game
Well, the T20 World Cup witnessed a huge upset on Day 1 itself. Scotland stunningly defeated Bangladesh in a thrilling match by six runs. After being put into bat first, they were struggling at 53/6 at one stage with the Bangladesh spinners spinning a web around batters.
But it was the day for Chris Greaves as he revived his team’s innings with a brilliant knock. He smashed 45 off 28 balls while stitching a partnership of 51 runs with Mark Watt who scored 22 off 17. A couple of hits from tail-enders in the death overs propelled Scotland to 140 then in their 20 overs.
A memorable evening for 🏴
Catch all the highlights as Scotland upset Bangladesh in their opening match of the #T20WorldCup 2021 👇#BANvSCO https://t.co/GsXyHnUjfS
— ICC (@ICC) October 17, 2021
Scotland started superbly with the ball picking their openers with only 18 runs on the board. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan rebuilt the innings but they were a tad slow and the required run-rate kept increasing. Just when they were making a comeback, Greaves, the hero with the bat, struck with the ball as well to send back both dangerous batters.
Though Bangladesh managed to hit some big sixes in the death overs, the target was a little too much for them to achieve. They eventually fell short by six runs with Safyaan Sharif keeping his cool in the final over
