Tigers ease to victory

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Opener Nazimuddin and skipper Ashraful guided Bangladesh to victory over hosts Kenya in the second match of the Twenty20 Quadrangular at Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday.
Chasing 139 with the required run rate of 6.90 per over Bangladesh cruised to a five-wicket win with 2.2 overs to spare.
Batting first, Kenya scored 138 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs. Tamim Iqbal and Nazimuudin, the Chittagong opener duo, scored 22 for the first wicket with Tamim departing on 11 off 12 balls.
Aftab Ahmed played a belligerent innings of 17 runs off just six balls. After the departure of Aftab, Nazimuddin and Ashraful continued to dominate the scene. Nazimuddin scored 43 from 32 balls hitting three fours and two sixes while Ashraful chipped in with 36 off 20 balls with four boundaries and one six.
The finishing touch was given by Alok Kapali who remained not out on 17 and Mashrafee bin Murtaza who was unbeaten on 7.
Peter Ongondo grabbed two wickets for 21 runs while Thomas Odoyo, Lamack Onyango and Jimmy Kamande took apiece.
Earlier, Ashraful won the toss and opted to field first. Mashrafee gave the team an early break sending back opener Jesani for one and David Obuya, who was looking dangerous hitting 23 off 19 balls.
One down Tanmoy Misra and experienced campaigner Steve Tikolo produced a 52 runs in the third-wicket stand to steady the ship. Tanmoy Misra scored 38 off 41 balls and Tikolo made 24 off 22 balls.
Another experienced name Thomas Odoyo clubbed 22 off 13 balls and Collins Obuya hit 14 not out off 10 balls.
Bangladesh bowlers tried to maintain a tight line and length in the closing overs and succeeded to dislodge Kamande, Bhudia and Onyango for 6, 0 and 4 to stop the Kenya on 138.
Mashrafee scalped two for 29, Abdur Razzak took two for 22 and Farhad Reza conceded 34 runs in his four overs to grab two wickets.
Ashraful got the prize wicket of his counterpart Steve Tikolo but gave away 32 runs in his four-over spell.
Bangladesh meet Pakistan today in their second match

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