Tigers’ chance to seal Super 8 spot

Bangladesh will be confident of making it to the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup for the first time since 2007 as they square off against winless Nepal in the last match of Group D in the early hours on Monday.

The match will get underway at 5:30 am (Bangladesh time) at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.The Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side are in pole position to go through to the next round -- behind group winners South Africa -- with two wins out of three.

They started the campaign with a crucial two-wicket win against former champions Sri Lanka before going down by four runs against the Proteas – a result they would be looking back with some regret for some time to come, especially given that the Tigers have never beaten South Africa in this format.

However, a comprehensive 25-run win against the Netherlands in their penultimate group-stage match has given Chandika Hathurusingha's men breathing space ahead of their game against Nepal, an opposition they beat by eight wickets in Chattogram in the only encounter between the two teams during the 2014 T20 World Cup.

Nepal, though, have come a long way since their maiden appearance in Bangladesh, having finished second behind Oman in the Asia Qualifiers ahead of the ongoing edition. The associate nation may not have registered a victory in their first three matches, but they showed they can create a lot of problems for any side on their day as they pushed South Africa to the brink on Friday but eventually succumbed to a heartbreaking one-run defeat.

Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel said he did not want to go home empty-handed and wanted to give their fans something to cheer about with a win against Bangladesh.

Nepal lost to Netherlands by six wickets in a Group D match of the T20 World Cup on Tuesday, but their energetic supporters at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas and at home won many hearts. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

"We will play for pride. We wanted to beat a Test playing country. It didn't happen today, so we want to do that in the next game. The confidence that we got today, we want to carry that," Paudel said at the post-match press conference following the defeat against South Africa in Kingstown.

But Bangladesh would feel that they have passed the more difficult hurdles and would want to seize the golden opportunity of securing qualification.

Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who played a match-winning knock of 64 not out against the Dutch following a lengthy lean patch with the bat, certainly felt that way.

"Obviously, the match against Nepal is very important for us. If we win, we will go to the second round which will be a big achievement for us.," Shakib had said after the Netherlands victory.