Bangladesh beat Nepal to claim final Super Eight spot, Pakistan end with win

Bangladesh grabbed the final spot in the Super Eight phase of the Twenty20 World Cup with a 21-run victory over Nepal on Sunday.

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and his team joined India, Australia and Afghanistan in Group 1 of the Super Eight after their victory in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Pace bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib was the standout performer for Bangladesh, taking four for seven as Nepal struggled to 85 all out off 19.2 overs in reply to Bangladesh’s 106 from 19.3 on yet another Caribbean pitch offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers.

Shanto praised the performance of his bowlers in another low-scoring match in the tournament.

“We are not scoring much but we know we can defend low totals if we can pick up early wickets,” he said.

Former champions Sri Lanka, who finished third in the group and did not progress, concluded their campaign with an 83-run victory against the Netherlands in St Lucia.

Sri Lanka amassed 201 for six with Kusal Mendis (46), Charith Asalanka (46) and Angelo Matthews (30 not out) leading the charge and the target was always beyond the reach of the Dutch team, who were bowled out for 118 from 16.4 overs.

“After bad first two games this win is very healthy for us,” said Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga.

“The wicket was really good, we just wanted to put a 160-170 scores on this wicket.” 

Captain Babar Azam guided Pakistan through a nervy chase as they ended their World Cup campaign with a three-wicket win over Ireland on Sunday in the last Group A match, a dead rubber after both teams were already eliminated.

Pakistan finished third in the five-team group with four points after losing to India and the US, who progressed to the Super Eight stage. Ireland finished bottom with one point, ending their campaign without a win.

After Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl, Shaheen Afridi (3-22) dismissed Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker in the first over while skipper Paul Stirling and George Dockrell fell to Mohammad Amir (2-11), leaving Ireland reeling at 28-5 in the sixth over.

Gareth Delany (31 off 19 balls) helped stabilise Ireland's innings but fell to Imad Wasim (3-8) before an unbeaten last-wicket partnership of 26 runs between Joshua Little (22 not out) and Benjamin White (5 not out) got them to 106-9.

After Pakistan openers Mohammed Rizwan and Saim Ayub (both 17) fell during the power play, Barry McCarthy (3-15) dismissed Usman Khan and Shadab Khan in the same over, leaving Pakistan looking shaky at 57-5.

But Azam (32 not out) anchored the innings and Pakistan chased down the target with seven balls to spare, as Lauderhill's Central Broward Park stadium finally saw a match completed after three of its previous games were washed out. 

Reuters