T20 World Cup 2024: Bangladesh Beat Nepal in Low-Scoring Thriller to Book Final Super 8 Spot

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Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman starred as Bangladesh sealed the final Super 8 spot following a 21-run victory over Nepal in their final Group D match of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 at the Arnos Vale Ground.

After Nepal bowlers had unleashed their fury to floor Bangladesh batters for 106 on a challenging wicket in Kingstown, St Vincent, Tanzim and Mustafizur Rahman returned the favour to bundle out the opposition for 85.

Tanzim (4 for 7 in 4 overs) produced the third best bowling figures of the tournament to finish as the top wicket-taker for Bangladesh, while Mustafizur finished with 3 for 7 in his 4 overs. Shakib Al Hasan also took 2 wickets, and Taskin Ahmed claimed another.

For Nepal, Dipendra Singh Airee (25 off 31 balls) and Kushal Malla (27 off 40 balls) shared a fighting 52-run stand, taking the team from 26 for 5 to 78 before Mustafizur ended the partnership and brought Bangladesh into the match.

Earlier, Sompal Kami was the architect of Bangladesh's batting collapse with the new ball on a pitch that had decent grass cover, while it was the captain Rohit Paudel who bagged two important wickets, making use of the favourable bowling conditions on offer.

Bangladesh posted 106 thanks to Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed's 18-run last-wicket partnership. Shakib was the top-scorer for Bangladesh with 17 runs followed by Mahmudullah and Rishad Hossain, who both scored 13 runs each.

With this win, Bangladesh became the eighth team to qualify for the Super Eight. They will join India, Afghanistan and Australia in Group 1 of the Super 8s and will face Australia in the opener on Thursday (June 20).

Had they failed to beat Nepal, Bangladesh would have depended on Netherlands' result against Sri Lanka in the other Group D match confirm their spot in the next round. But they got the job done themselves to join South Africa as the two teams from Group D to progress.

For Nepal, this is the second successive match in which they came close to beating a Test-playing nation, having fallen agonisingly short by 1 run against South Africa in the last match. They can, however, leave the Caribbean with their heads held high after some figting performances.