Riding on opener Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten 83, Bangladesh managed to eke out a narrow eight-run win over the Netherlands in their first match of the WT20 Qualifiers, here on Wednesday.
Put in to bat, Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Tamim almost single-handedly lifted the team to 153 for seven and then restricted the Dutch to 145/7.
The Netherlands required 33 from the last 12 balls with duo of Mudassar Bukhari (14 off 5 balls) and Peter Seelar taking 16 off the penultimate over bowled by Al Amin Hossain. Needing 17 off the final over, the ‘Orange Brigade’ could only manage 8 runs off the Taskin Ahmed as the ‘Tigers’ looked relieved with a win first-up.
Earlier, swashbuckling Tamim smacked six boundaries and three sixes during his impressive 58-ball innings.
The other Bangladeshi batsmen couldn’t score much with Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman contributing 15 runs each.
The Netherlands batsmen gave Bangladesh a run for their money while chasing the modest target, but ultimately failed to pull it off.
Opener Stephen Myburgh (29) gave a solid start to the team before skipper Peter Borren (29) took it forward. But left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan’s struck twice put a lid on their hopes.
Brief scores
Bangladesh: 153/7 (Tamim Iqbal 83*; Timm van der Gugten 3/21) beat Netherlands: 145/7 (Stephen Myburgh 29; Al-Amin Hossain 2/21) by eight runs.