Sabbir Hossain :Bangladesh struggled to beat Netherlands by eight runs in their first Group ‘A’ match of the qualifying round of the ICC World Twenty20 Cricket held at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharmasala, India on Wednesday. Bangladesh are in Group ‘A’ with Netherlands, Oman and Ireland.Put to bat first, the Tigers piled up a fighting total of 153 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs and then they restricted Netherlands to 145 for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.Bangladesh had a sorrow start as they lost their opener Soumya Sarkar (15) when Bangladesh’s total was 18.Then Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman repaired the damage contributing together 42 runs for the second wicket stand before Sabbir Rahman (15) was trapped leg before wicket by RE van der Merwe when the Tigers’ score was 60 for the loss of two wickets.Dashing opener Tamim Iqbal remained unbeaten with 83. He hit six fours and three sixes in his 58-ball innings. Tamim Iqbal was adjudged the Man of the Match.Later, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad built another notable partnership. They added together 33 runs for the fourth wicket partnership before Mahmudullah Riyad (10) was cleanly bowled out by T van der Gugten when Bangladesh’s score was 111 for the loss of four wickets. T van der Gugten bowled really good claiming three wickets at the cost of 21 runs.PA van Meekeren bagged two wickets instead of 17 runs.Besides, PW Borren and RE van der Merwe took one wicket each for nine and 28 runs respectively. Netherlands faced an early jolt losing their first three wickets for 77 runs.Then PW Borren and TLW Cooper made a worthy partnership. They put on together 35 runs in the fourth wicket stand before PW Borren was caught by Nasir Hossain off Shakib AL Hasan when Netherlands’ score was 112 for the loss of four wickets.After dismissal of PW Borren, Netherlands could not build any notable partnership.PW Borren notched up a polished 29 from 28 balls featuring three fours while opener SJ Myburgh hit a run-a-ball 29 including five fours. Besides, BN Cooper added 20 runs to the Netherlands total.Pacer Al-Amin Hossain and spinner Shakib Al Hasan bagged a pair of wickets each at the cost of 24 and 28 runs respectively. Besides, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Nasir Hossain took one wicket each for 14 and 24 runs respectively.
