Bangladesh crush Canada by nine wickets in warm-up game

Captain Shakib Al Hasan led from the front with a fine bowling show as Bangladesh crushed Canada by nine wickets in a World Cup warm-up match.

Chittagong: Captain Shakib Al Hasan led from the front with a fine bowling show before Tamim Iqbal’s pyrotechnics as Bangladesh crushed Canada by nine wickets in a World Cup warm-up match here on Saturday.

Shakib, who asked the visitors to bat after winning the toss, claimed three for five runs from his 3.3 overs to help Bangladesh bundle out Canada for a paltry 112 in 37.3 overs. With only 113 required for victory, Tamim smashed a 50-ball 69 as hosts easily chased down the target in only 19.2 overs. Tamim struck seven fours and three sixes before he was dismissed when Bangladesh were seven runs shy of the target at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.His opening partner Imrul Kayes remained not out at 39 from 57 balls as Bangladesh reached 113 for one with more than 30 overs remaining. Kayes hit five fours in his innings. Earlier, Canada found Bangladesh bowlers too hot to handle and they lost their two opening batsmen in the first and second over itself with Hiral Patel (0) and Ruvindu Gunasekera (13) dismissed by pace colleagues Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain respectively. The Canadian innings never got going from their early two losses and there was no substantive partnership between their batsmen, the highest being the 39 for the fourth wicket between captain Ashish Bagai (30) and Jimmy Hansra (22). Bagai and Hansra were the top-scorers for Canada.Once the duo were out, Canada capitulated with four of their batsmen dismissed at the same score of 81. For Bangladesh, pacers Shafiul and Rubel chipped in with two wickets each while Mahmudullah got one wicket. Bangladesh play their second and final warm-up game at Mirpur on February 15 while Canada take on England at Fatullah the next day. Brief Scores: Canada: 112 all out in 37.3 overs (Ashish Bagai 30; Shakib Al Hasan 3/5). Bangladesh: 113 for one in 19.2 overs (Tamim Iqbal 69). Bangladesh won by 9 wkts. PTI