A blazing half-century by opener Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh Red a 12-run win over Bangladesh Green in their final Twenty20 warm-up match at Fatullah on Thursday, but more importantly it helped some other batsmen regain their confidence.
Mohammad Ashraful and Alok Kapali, the two key batsmen of Bangladesh squad for the one-off Twenty20 match against West Indies, smashed a half-century each playing for the Green team to give Bangladesh Red a scare before they finally succumbed to the pressure.
Tamim was at his usual best, hitting all around the park to score 90 off 53 balls with nine fours and three sixes and leading Bangladesh Red to 179 in their 20 overs after they were sent in by Green captain Shahriar Nafees.
Tamim added 42 runs with Imrul Kayes before he was joined by Sakib al Hasan, who was promoted to one-down position and was playing his first game having returned from India earlier this week.
Sakib also showed some signs of form in his 26-ball 35, though he was largely overshadowed by his former deputy Tamim, who was in marauding mood during their 75-run stand.
Alok trapped Sakib in front to give Green a much-needed breakthrough. He conceded only 12 runs in his first two overs, but Tamim forced him out of the attack plundering 17 runs in his third over.
Tamim looked well destined for a century before his innings was brought to an end by Shahahdat Hossain, who deceived the left-hander with a slower delivery with 11 balls still left in the Bangladesh Red innings.
Bangladesh Green got off to poor start when Shafiul Islam bowled Junaed Siddique (4) and Shahriar Nafees (2) in successive overs before Sakib flummoxed Roqibul Hassan for 19 when the batsman was trying to play a sweep shot only to drag the ball on to his stumps.
However, Ashraful and Alok did not allow the game to be a one-sided affair and made full use of their chance to take Green close and strengthen their claim for a place in the starting line-up of Tigers in the process.
Ashraful, who missed the previous warm-up game for fever, completed his fifty off 34 balls before he was caught by Shafiul at short third-man off the bowling of left-arm spinner Elias Sunny for 51.
His 36-balls innings included five fours and a six.
Sunny later took the wicket of Kapali, who was stumped by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim after making 55 off 35 balls clubbing three fours and as many sixes.
Bangladesh Green were finally left stranded at 167-7, but still they left the ground with their heads high as the main goal of this game was fulfilled with the batsmen getting into form ahead of the West Indies series.
‘All the preparation matches we played including the four-day and Twenty20 matches helped us a lot,’ Ashraful said later.
‘The key batsmen are scoring and the bowlers are also bowing well which helped us gain confidence.
‘We would have won the match if I and Alok could survive. Our run-rate was always high. I played a nasty shot which caused the damage.
‘This type of situation is very common in Twenty20 cricket that nearly fifty runs will be needed in the last five overs. We have to cope up with such situations,’ he said.
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