Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer was on cloud nine after his team stunned Bangladesh in the team’s opening match of the T20 World Cup.
Scotland posted 140 runs on the board after Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah won the toss and decided to bowl first. However, Scotland bowlers were able to restrict the Tigers to 134-7 and thus won by six runs to start their campaign on a high.
Coetzer, who was dismissed without troubling the scorers, stated that his team can win the game from any position. The Scotland skipper added that one can not rule out any team in T20s as the game can change on its head in a matter of deliveries.
Chris Greaves played an instrumental role in Scotland’s win as he dismissed Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim and conceded only 19 runs in the three overs he bowled. Furthermore, he scored a fine knock of 45 runs off just 28 balls to add the finishing touches for Scotland and took them to a competitive score of 140 runs. Thus, Greaves was awarded the Player of the match.
During the post-match presentation, Kyle Coetzer stated: “Credit to the Bangladesh bowlers, they showed high-class skills. They did blow us away a bit. But you can’t count any team out in T20s. We had a lot of belief in our batting depth, we do feel we can all hit the ball a long way. Greaves and Watt showed it.”
On the other hand, Scotland’s fielding was exemplary as they took their chances. Calum MacLeod was brilliant for Scotland as he took three catches, out of which two were brilliant at the boundary rope.
“It was tricky, there was plenty of dew. I felt our fielders tackled it well apart from myself, all credit to them. It (lower order fightback) just shows that we can win a game from any position. We fought back with some great knocks and this is a great confidence builder. We understand that we have to play extremely well to beat sides,” he said.
“We certainly didn’t play to our full potential tonight against a good Bangladesh side. We’ll do what we do after winning games, and maybe de-brief at some point tomorrow. Huge togetherness amongst our crowd. That’s one of the most important things that we need when we want to get across the line under pressure. Everyone backs each other. Really proud of the guys. We continually keep proving to ourselves that we’re capable,” Scotland skipper pointed.
Scotland has got off to a dream start and they will look to continue their good show. Kyle Coetzer’s team will next face Papua New Guinea on Tuesday.
