T20 World Cup: Bowler, Roy power England to 8-wicket win over Bangladesh (Ld)

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Abu Dhabi, Oct 27 (IANS) A stellar performance by bowlers, followed by a quickfire fifty by Jason Roy (61 off 38) powered England to an emphatic 8-wicket win over Bangladesh in a Super 12 match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, here on Wednesday.

This was England's second successive victory in the Super 12s of the tournament and they moved to the top of the points table in Group 1.

England's bowlers - Tymal Mills (3/27), Liam Livingstone (2/15) and Moeen Ali (2/18) produced their second clinical performance of the tournament and restricted Bangladesh to 124/9 in 20 overs.

Chasing a modest target for victory, openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler gave England a flying start, scoring 50-1 in the powerplay. However, during the process, England also lost the wicket of Buttler (18) in the 5th over.

Nevertheless, Buttler's wicket didn't affect Roy's flow as he and Dawid Malan kept the scoreboard ticking with occasional boundaries. The duo added 73 for the second wicket, off just 48 balls.

Roy brought up his fifty with a six down the ground off just 33 balls, and then added to his tally of maximums with a cheeky scoop. He got out trying to repeat a similar shot, but with only 13 runs needed then. In the end, Malan (28) and Jonny Bairstow (8) remained not out and helped England chase the target quite comfortably in 14.1 overs.

Earlier, batting first, Bangladesh were off to a terrible start as they lost their top three batters inside the powerplay. Just like their previous game, Eoin Morgan's decision to throw the new ball to Moeen Ali worked well as he dismissed Liton Das (9) and Mohammad Naim (5) in successive deliveries of the 3rd over.

Chrish Woakes then sent the in-form Shakib Al Hasan (4) back courtesy an excellent one-handed catch by Adil Rashid, leaving Bangladesh in deep trouble at 26-3 after 5.2 overs.

From there, Mushfiqur Rahim (29) and skipper Mahamudullah (19) batted sensibly and revived Bangladesh fortunes, taking them to 60/3 at the halfway point of the innings.

Just when it looked like things were going well for Bangladesh, Liam Livingstone trapped Mushfiqur leg before to break the 37 runs partnership. Horror show continued for Bangladesh as Afif Hossain, who came to bat next, got run out on a misfield in the 13th over.

Soon, skipper Mahmudullah, who looked in good touch, also went back to the pavilion. In order to score, he tried to go big but the leg break bowled by Livingstone turned enough to find the edge.

Thereafter, Bangladesh never got the momentum and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. In the end, some late fireworks by Nasum Ahmed (19 off 9 balls) steered Bangladesh to a respectable score of 124-9 in 20 overs.

Brief scores;

Bangladesh: 124/9 in 20 Overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 29; Tymal Mills 3/27, Liam Livingstone 2/15) lost to England 126-2 in 14.1 overs (Jason Roy 61, Dawid Malan 28; Nasum Ahmed 1/26)

--IANS

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