OH MAN, THAT WAS SPECIAL - Co-host Oman begins T20 World Cup campaign with a 10-wicket win over PNG

Courtesy Jatinder’s knock and his opening partner Aqib Ilyas’s innings of 50 not out off 43 balls (5 fours, 1 six), Oman chased down a modest 130-run target in just 13.4 overs. None of the PNG bowlers could create any trouble for Jatinder and Aqib as the Oman batters went about their business in confident fashion from the onset.

Earlier, skipper Asad Vala (56 off 43 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes) struck a fine half-century before rival captain Zeeshan Maqsood returned with figures of four for 20 with his slow left-arm orthodox, which restricted PNG to 129 for nine.

Sent in to bat, PNG lost both its openers for no score before Vala smashed 56. No.4 Charles Amini made 37 off 26 balls to stitch 81 runs for the third wicket with Vala. But thereafter, debutant PNG witnessed a batting collapse as it lost its next six wickets for 37 runs.

Man-of-the-match Maqsood was the pick of the bowlers for Oman, with medium pacers Bilal Khan (2 for 16) and Kallemullah (2 for 19) chipping in with a couple of wickets each. The match against Oman was PNG’s first in its T20 World Cup history.

Brief scores: Papua New Guinea 129/9 in 20 overs (A Vala 56, Z Maqsood 4/20) lost to Oman 131/0 in 13.4 overs (Jatinder 73*, Aqib 50*)

Scotland upsets Bangladesh

Scotland caused a big shock in the ICC World T20 qualifiers beating Bangladesh by six runs on Sunday. Set to chase 141, Bangladesh was restricted to 134 for seven. Riding on an all-round show from Chris Greaves, Scotland belied its underdog status turning the tables on a much superior opponent. Greaves scored a crucial 45 (28b, 4x4, 2x6) and his quickfire hitting towards the end propelled his team to a match-winning score.

Scotland opener George Munsey who scored 29 (23b, 2x4, 2x6) and Mark Watt, who made 22 (17b, 2x4) were the other chief contributors. Greaves then weaved magic with his leg-spin taking the key wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim to effectively seal the contest in his team’s favour.

Bangladesh struggled to adapt to the sluggish nature of the surface and could manage only 25 runs while losing two wickets in the powerplay overs. The other Scotland bowler to make a mark was Brad Wheal, who picked up three wickets for 24 runs. Wheal accounted for the big scalps of captain Mahmudullah and Liton Das, besides getting rid of Nurul Hasan. Earlier, Shakib became the highest wicket-taker in T20Is when he pipped Lasith Malinga’s tally of 107 wickets.

Brief scores: Scotland 140/9 in 20 overs (C Greaves 45, M Hasan 3/19) bt Bangladesh 134/7 in 20 overs (B Wheal 3/24)