Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
Bangladesh began their T20 World Cup campaign on a high note today, defeating the Netherlands by 9 runs at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
The Dutch were all out for 135 after 20 overs, in reply to Bangladesh’s 144 for eight after 20 overs. The result is historic from Bangladesh’s perspective since the Tigers won their first-ever Super 12 match at a T20 World Cup. It also ended their 15-year wait to win a T20 World Cup game beyond the preliminary phase, following Bangladesh’s six-wicket victory against West Indies in the 2007 edition’s group stage.
Bangladesh could not have asked for a better start in their defence of 145 runs as pacer Taskin Ahmed picked two wickets in the first two deliveries of the Netherlands innings.
Shakib then introduced himself in the fourth over but was immediately greeted with a six by hard-hitting opener Max O’Dowd. However, the Tigers’ out-fielding was on song as two run outs in that over placed Bangladesh at the driving seat.
From Netherlands struggling at 15 for four inside four overs, Colin Ackermann, in at number four, consolidated with skipper Scott Edwards and stitched a 44-run stand before Shakib came back to dismiss Edwards (16).
Bangladesh struck a double blow soon after, with seamer Hasan Mahmud removing Tim Pringle (1) during a his third over, which turned out to be a maiden over as well, before the right-hander picked the wicket of Logan van Beek (2) in his fourth over to end with impressive figures of 4-1-15-2.
Ackermann was left with a lot to do on his own and eventually his valiant 48-ball 62-run knock ended with Taskin picking two wickets in his fourth over, removing Ackermann after Shariz Ahmed (9). Taskin ended up scaling his career-best figures in T20Is with four wickets in 25 runs in full quota of four overs.
The rest of the Bangladesh bowlers put up a disciplined act as well, with Mustafizur Rahman and Soumya Sarkar keeping the run-rate in check. In the end, Paul van Meekeren struck a 14-ball 24 but it only reduced the margin of defeat.
Earlier, after Bangladesh were asked to bat first, a 12-ball 20 cameo from Mosaddek Hossain late in the innings following two 40-plus partnerships — from openers Soumya Sarkar (14) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (25) and Afif Hossain and Nurul Hasan (13) in the middle order — allowed Bangladesh to post a challenging total. Afif top-scored with 38.
Meekeren scalped two wickets to become the Netherlands joint all-time top wicket-taker, while Bas de Leede also picked two.
