Bangladesh inch closer to Super Eight

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 yesterday in St Vincent.

Put into bat at the Arnos Vale Cricket Ground, Shakib returned to form with an unbeaten 64 off 46 balls that served as anchor for the 159 for five the Bangledishis scored from their 20 overs.

“It was important for someone from the top four to bat through the innings, and I am happy to contribute,” said Man-of-the-Match Shakib 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, to leave the Dutch 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 just 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 the 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 secure their place in the quarter-finals 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.

“We lost in all three facets, so credit to Bangladesh,” Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said. “They were great, and we weren’t up to it.”