Opener Tamim Iqbal had the bowlers to thank to save him from an unwanted record as they successfully defended a modest score to give Bangladesh an eight-run win over Netherlands on Wednesday.
Tamim made a carry through the innings and made 83, setting up Bangladesh’s innings of 153-7, but it still looked to be inadequate against a spirited Dutch side, which nearly pulled off an upset.
The bowlers kept their cool under pressure to restrict Netherlands finally to 145-7, helping Bangladesh survive the scare and give Tamim some comfort after his vital innings.
This is the second time the opener carried through an innings in a Twenty20 International as Tamim also batted 20 overs against West Indies in 2012 to stay unbeaten on 88 yet Bangladesh could not win that game in Dhaka.
No cricketer in the history has lost twice in Twenty20 internationals despite carrying through the innings and Tamim came close to the record in the match when balance was not in Bangladesh’s favour until the last four fours.
Tamim’s innings was equally crucial given Bangladesh were struggling to cope up with the slow pitch where the ball was not coming onto the bat at a pace they were expected of.
After Tamim’s 58-ball knock, the second highest score in Bangladesh’s innings is 15, which is enough to explain how significant this was for both the team and Tamim.
The situation was so tough that Tamim even could not think of a century, which would make him the first Bangladeshi to do so in a Twenty20 international.
He had some time left with him and also had few balls to charge but Tamim preferred to stay calm as Bangladesh needed him to stay till then to get a reasonable score on the board.
‘I was rather thinking of taking our score to 150,’ Tamim said after the match. ‘I knew if we can score that we have chance in this game. We lost two wickets in 15th over. If we had not lost that wickets may be I would have played differently and push for a century.
‘But we had to slow down things after Mushfiq Bhai [Mushfiqur Rahim] and Riayd Bhai [Mahmudullah] got out in the same over. If I also got out then the team would have been under pressure.
‘So I did not even think of the century. My target was 150. If had gotten with that process I would have accepted it,’ said Tamim, who has now four half-centuries in Twenty20 internationals and three of them against Netherlands.
Tamim said his recent success in domestic Twenty20 tournaments helped him understand the game better and do some justice to his talent, which suited the format unlike others.
‘I spoke to my coach, coaching staff and management about how I should approach Twenty20 matches,’ said the left-hander, who struck just six fours and three sixes in his innings.
‘To be quite frank, I could not do any justice to my talent. Finally I got a way about how I can score runs in Tweny20 and reaped the result in domestic tournament and in Pakistan Super League. I just tried to follow the same method here,’ he said.
-With New Age input
