Moeen Ali, an all-rounder for England, scored 56 runs off 39 balls with six sixes and two fours to lead England to a victory against Bangladesh by four wickets using the DLS technique. The match took place on Monday at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati and was England’s second and last warm-up match for the ICC World Cup.
As England were given the task of chasing 197, Bangladesh pacers were able to make an impression on the game. The Tigers reduced the reigning world champions to four down for 107 in the 11th over, but a couple of dropped chances from Tigers wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim and as many missed chances at deep third-man from pacer Taskin Ahmed made it difficult for the Tigers after a poor batting effort from them.
Even though the England batsmen were given a fright by the Tigers pacers, it seemed that they would not make much of an effort to chase down the target since the most of them were in the mood to wrap up the proceedings as quickly as possible. They were able to complete the task in a total of 24.1 overs, leaving them with 77 balls to spare in the competition that was reduced to 37 overs due to the rain.
But England’s star hitter Joe Root held one end as Moeen took the attack to the left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed in the final stages of the innings to bring England through to a win by a comfortable margin.
Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladeshi bowler, took two wickets with the new ball, while his pace colleagues Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, and Hasan Mahmud also bowled outstanding stints and took one wicket apiece.
On October 7 at Dharamsala, Bangladesh will compete in their first World Cup match, which will be against Afghanistan. On October 10 at the same site, Bangladesh will compete in their second main stage match, which will be against the defending champions.