ICC Twenty20 World Cup | Chris Greaves hits 45 as Scotland recover to post competitive total

Chris Greaves led a fine lower-order fightback with a 28-ball 45 as Scotland recovered from a hopeless situation to post 140 for nine against Bangladesh in their Group B opener of the T20 World Cup first round here on Sunday.

Invited to bat first, Scotland were reeling at 53 for six in the 12th over before Greaves added 51 runs with Mark Watt (22 off 17 balls) to prop up Scotland.

Scotland were off to a poor start as they lost skipper Kyle Coetzer for just five runs on the board in the third over.

Coetzer failed to open his account before being bowled by Saifuddin.

Off-spinner Mahedi Hasan snared two wickets in his first over as he dismissed wicketkeeper Matthew Cross (11) and George Munsey (29) after the two had added 40 runs for the second wicket.

This was after a brilliant display by Bangladesh bowlers in the power play as they restricted Scotland to 39 for one in the first six overs.

Star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan then joined the party by getting rid of Richie Berrington (2) and Michael Leask (0) to leave Scotland tottering at 52 for five, which soon became 53 for six when Hasan picked up his third wicket in the form of Calum MacLeod (5).

Greaves, who hit four fours and two sixes, then came to their rescue.

Shakib Al Hasan becomes highest wicket-taker in T20Is

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan on Sunday became the highest wicket-taker in T20 International cricket when he pipped Lasith Malinga’s tally of 107 wickets.

Shakib, the greatest ever cricketer from his country, finished with figures of 2/17 in four overs and in the process surpassed the Sri Lankan great’s tally of T20 International wickets.

Shakib now has 108 scalps from 89 T20 International games and is also the only cricketer to have a double of 100 wickets and 1000 plus runs in this format.

On the day, he first removed Richie Berrington to equal Malinga and surpassed him with the wicket of Michael Leask.

Third in the list is New Zealand’s Tim Southee, who has 99 wickets to his name.

Brief scores: Scotland: 140/9 in 20 overs (George Munsey 29, Chris Greaves 45; Mahedi Hasan 3/19, Shakib Al Hasan 2/17).