Kyle Coetzer's career-best 156 went in vain as Bangladesh scripted a brilliant chase to notch up a comprehensive six-wicket win over Scotland in their Pool A match of the ICC World Cup in Nelson, on Thursday.
- Scorecard
Chasing 319 to win, Bangladesh cruised to a seemingly stiff target with 11 balls to spare, riding on four individual fifties by Tamim Iqbal (95), Mahmudullah (62), Mushfiqur Rahim (60) and Shakib Al Hasan (52 not out).
After opener Iqbal and No. 3 batsman Mahmudullah (62) laid the foundation for the chase with a 139-run stand and Rahim provided the support in the middle, it was Hasan, who brought up the win with a four off Iain Wardlaw in the 49th over at the Saxton Oval.
Earlier, opener Kyle Coetzer hammered a career-best 134-ball 156 to power Scotland to 318 for eight but it wasn't enough in the end as Bangladesh chased down the target to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.
Coetzer anchored the Scotland innings as he shared a 141-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Preston Mommsen (39), besides adding 78 runs with Matt Machan (35) for the third wicket to lay the foundation for the total.
Coetzer's scintillating innings was studded with 17 boundaries and four sixes. After his dismissal, Richie Berrington (26) and Matthew Cross (20) played small cameos to take Scotland across the 300-mark.
For Scotland, Josh Davey took two wickets, while Wardlaw and Alasdair Evans scalped one each.
Iqbal and Mahmudullah produced a brilliant 139-run partnership to help Bangladesh recover from an early wicket and bring the innings back on track.
Wardlaw broke the partnership in the 24th over when he disturbed Mahmudullah's stumps with a toe-crushing delivery to reduce Bangladesh to 144 for two.
Iqbal then joined hands with Rahim as the duo brought up the 200 for Bangladesh with a fluent 57-run partnership from 48 balls for the second wicket.
Scotland kept fighting as Iqbal lost his wicket, five runs short of a well-deserved century, when he was trapped in front of the wicket by Davey.
Rahim and Hasan then added another 46 runs for the fourth wicket in 39 deliveries, before the former was sent packing by Alasdair Evans in the 38th over as Bangladesh slipped to 247 for four.
Needing another 72 runs in 12 overs, Hasan and new batsman Sabbir Rahman (42 not out) piled up the runs with consummate ease in 10.1 overs.
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