The Tigers ended their tour of Europe with a one-wicket defeat as the Netherlands snatched a last ball victory in the final T20 International at Sportpark Westvliet in The Hague last night.
A second upset was inflicted upon Bangladesh by an associate team in the space of three days with Scotland earlier defeating the Tigers in the first match by 34 runs at the same venue. Bangladesh, who made the trip as part of their preparation for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Sri Lanka in September, won four out of six matches on the tour, having earlier clinched the series against Ireland 3-0.
The Netherlands exacted sweet revenge for their eight-wicket defeat in the first match, thanks largely to their bowlers who restricted Bangladesh to 128 runs. But still the Bangladesh bowlers picked up wickets at regular interval to see an exciting finish to the match as Ahsan Malik cut left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak behind point to the fence to clinch victory for the Dutch off the last ball.
The home team needed ten runs from the last six deliveries of Razzak, who was hit for a six by Timm van der Gugten off the fourth ball to dash the Tigers’ hopes before he was dismissed off the next delivery.
But it was Michael Swart who shaped the victory with a 49-ball 61 that saw four boundaries and two sixes. He smashed one six and a four to take 14 runs in the 17th over bowled by Shakib Al Hasan to turn the tables on the visitors.
Earlier, opener Tamim Iqbal’s back-to-back half-century and Mahmudullah Riyad’s 41-run innings was not good enough to put up a fighting total on the board as the visitors were dismissed for 128 from their 20 overs.
The Netherlands bowlers did a decent job to wrap up their opponents for a paltry total once Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim decided to bat first in their last game on the tour of Europe. Bangladesh lost three early wickets, those of Shakib Al Hasan, Junaed Siddiqui and Mushfiqur with the scoreboard reading just eight runs.
Riyad joined Tamim to repair the damage, putting on 62 runs for the fourth wicket but their efforts were in vain as nobody could stand up thereafter to build a respectable total. Bangladesh lost five wickets in the last two overs which killed any hopes of a bigger score.
The Tigers had desperately needed fireworks from Tamim but the dashing left-hander failed to accelerate and ended up with 50 off 46 balls that contained only two fours and one six while Riyad smashed six boundaries during his 31-ball 41.
The hard-hitting Ziaur Rahman was the other notable scorer with 22 off 17 balls that featured two boundaries and a six.
Pacer Timm van der Gugten claimed three wickets conceding 18 runs in four overs while Michael Swart and pacer Mudassar Bukhari took two wickets each.
SCORES IN BRIEF
BANGLADESH:
NETHERLANDS: 131-9 in 20 overs (Barresi 13, Swart 61, Cooper 0, Borren 16, van der Gugten 12, Razzak 2-23, Shafiul 2-26, Shakib 2-28, Sunny 1-28, Riyad 1-24)
RESULT: Netherlands won by one wicket.
-With The Daily Star input
