Chris Greaves scored a crucial 45 before taking two wickets in three overs as minnows Scotland got their T20 World Cup campaign underway with a famous win, stunning Bangladesh by six runs in the Group B opener at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground on Sunday. 

Chris Greaves led a Scottish lower-order fightback with a 28-ball 45, helping his side recover from a hopeless situation to post 140 for nine.

Invited to bat first, Scotland were reeling at 53 for six in the 12th over before Greaves added 51 runs with Mark Watt (22 off 17 balls) to pull Scotland out of the mud.

Mehadi Hasan finished with three wickets for 19 runs from four overs, while Shakib Al Hasan – who surpassed Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga as the highest wicket-taker in T20Is – and Mustafizur Rahman picked two wickets each. Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Saifuddin were also among the wickets. 

In reply, Bangladesh were stopped at 134 for seven in their allotted quota of 20 overs as the tournament witnessed an upset on the very first day of the mega-event.

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Playing a pivotal role in Scotland’s win was Greaves, who followed up his blazing knock with the two important wickets of star all-rounder Shakib (20) and the seasoned Mushfiqur Rahim (38).

Skipper Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain added 32 runs for the fifth wicket but the latter’s dismissal helped Scotland snap Bangladesh’s momentum once again.

The Bangla Tigers came into the game on the back off a 4-1 thrashing of Australia, but were dealt a knockout blow in their World Cup opener when Brad Wheal dismissed Mahmudullah in the 19th over. 

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Wheal was the pick of the Scottish bowlers 3/24 from four overs, with his victims also including opener Liton Das and wicketkeeper Narul Hasan. 

In his post-match comments, Mahmuduallah said there needs to be an inquest in the team if they can’t chase down targets like 140. “We still need to be positive and figure out where we made mistakes, and not try to repeat them. Beautiful wicket to bat on, fantastic ground and crowd, we need to pull our socks up and play better cricket,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said it would be a mistake to take any team lightly in the shortest format of the game.

“Credit to the Bangladesh bowlers, they showed high class skills. They did blow us away a bit. But you can’t count any team out in T20s. We had a lot of belief in our batting depth, we do feel we can all hit the ball a long way.”