KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC):
Bangladesh inched closer to reaching the Super Eight of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup after Shakib-Al-Hasan and Rishad Hossain played leading roles in a 25-run win against The Netherlands in St Vincent yesterday.
Shakib returned to form with an unbeaten 64 off 46 balls that included only nine fours, earning him the Player-of-the-Match award, and he anchored the Bangladeshis to 159 for five off their 20 overs after they were put in to bat in their Group D match at the Arnos Vale Cricket Ground, which was staging an international for the first time in a decade.
“It was important for someone from top-four to bat through the innings, and I am happy to contribute,” Shakib said during the post-play TV interview. “It was a tough pitch at the start, but we held our nerves.
“It was a competitive total, not a winning one, but the bowlers chipped in perfectly. Hardly any international game was played in the last few years, so we didn’t know what a good score was going to be, and we had to keep wickets until the 14th to 15th overs and take it from there. But 160 in a World Cup game is always tricky.”
Rishad delivered crucial strikes to remove top scorer Sybrand Engelbrecht for 33 in the 15th over, the experienced Bas de Leede two balls later, and Logan van Beek in the 18th over, and the Dutch finished on 134 for eight from their 20 overs.
Pacer Taskin Ahmed ended with two for 30 from his four overs, and left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman was economical, if not penetrative, conceding only 12 from his four overs to keep a tight lid on the Netherlands scoring.
“Rishad and Fizz (Mustafizur) took it away from Netherlands,” Shakib added. “Netherlands had their moments, 10 runs an over on this ground in the last seven or eight overs, wind going in one way, made it tough to defend. But credit to bowlers for pulling it off.”
Bangladesh moved two points clear of the Oranje brigade in the group table, knowing a win against Nepal on Sunday at the same venue will definitely secure their place in the quarterfinals along with group leaders South Africa.
The Netherlands must hope that the Tigers lose that fixture, and that they can win and achieve a big run-rate swing against bottom-placed Sri Lanka on the same day at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in neighbouring St Lucia.
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