Riding on a brilliant half-century from opener Mohammad Naim and Mustafizur Rahman’s four-wicket haul, Bangladesh kept their T20 World Cup hopes alive with a 26-run win over hosts Oman. 

Bangladesh were stunned by Scotland in their opening game on Sunday, but bounced back at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman to stay in contention for the Super 12 round. 

Both Oman and Bangladesh now have one win each, and will be vying for the only remaining spot to qualify for the Super 12 stage. Scotland, who beat Papua New Guinea earlier in the day, have already qualified from the group.

Oman will next take on Scotland on Thursday, with Bangladesh playing Papua New Guinea earlier the same day.

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Chasing a challenging target, Ludhiana-born Jatinder Singh (40 off 33), who scored his country’s first-ever World Cup fifty  on Sunday, provided a solid start for Oman alongside Kashyap Prajapati (21) but the other batters struggled.

Like Oman, Bangladesh were also guilty of dropping catches but they held their nerves and thanks to some astute captaincy by skipper Mahmudullah and the spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan they were able to make a strong comeback.

Oman needed 54 runs in the last five overs. But with the boundaries drying up and the required run rate continuously increasing, Oman batters became desperate and went for the hail mary and kept losing wickets.

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Shakib, who starred with the bat also pitched in with the ball, ending with impressive figures of 3/28 while Mahedi Hassan (1/14) and Mohammad Saifuddin (1/16) took a wicket each.

Earlier, opener Naim struck three fours and four sixes enroute to his 50-ball-64. But that came after the co-hosts had made a couple of early breakthroughs, dismissing Liton Das for cheap before Fayaz Butt effected a breathtaking caught and bowled to get rid of Mehadi Hasan. 

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But Naim stitched an 80-run stand with the experienced Shakib Al Hasan (42) tp put Bangladesh into a strong position. 

But Oman rallied back after Shakib’s run-out, restricting the Bangla Tigers to 153 runs.