Netherlands captain Peter Borren appeared dejected as his side wasted a very good opportunity to produce an upset against Bangladesh in the ICC World Twenty20 on Wednesday.
The Dutch restricted Bangladesh to a reasonable 153-7 and then controlled their innings for a long period before losing their grip on the match for a heartbreaking eight-run defeat.Bangladesh skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza made things harder for the Dutch in an extremely tight over when he conceded just three runs and took a vital wicket to leave them needing 39 from last 18 balls.
Netherlands came agonisingly close before ending their innings at 145-7 to throw their campaign in disarray as they now must win the remaining two matches and hope Bangladesh lose at least one if they are to qualify.
‘Pretty sure the changing room is absolutely gutted at the moment,’ said Borren after the match. ‘We talked about getting into a position where any team can win the game and I’m pretty sure with four overs to go in this game, we were probably in the box seat.
‘And the 17th over from Murtaza was probably the one that’s killed us I think. Very disappointed to have got us into a position where we should have won the game and not closed it out.
‘Obviously credit goes to the Bangladeshi bowlers. Taskin [Ahmed] hardly missed a yorker, but in saying that, very disappointing not to win having been in that situation,’ he said.
Taskin gave away just eight runs when Netherlands needed 17 from the last over.
Borren refused to make their lack of experience as an excuse as they have had some of the batsmen left in the final few overs to provide deceive blows.
‘I don’t think experience was the problem,’ said Borren. ‘With four overs to go, we had Roelof van der Merwe and Tom Cooper at the crease. They are lot of experienced.
‘Perhaps with the ball, we got hit down the ground for six or seven sixes and we hit one six. That’s not going to win you too many games.
‘I was personally disappointed with the execution. The big difference was they executed their skills better than we did.
‘In Ideal situation we would win in 18 overs. But I think we got ourselves into a reasonable position to be honest. I agree I would have rather gone further ahead of the rate and not win it at the end.
‘Chasing 154, you don’t want to win the game in the last over. Too disappointed not to win it the way we should have.’
-With New Age input
