Press Trust of India
Dharamsala, March 9: Riding on opener Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten 83 (58b, 6×4, 3×6), Bangladesh managed to eke out a narrow eight-run win over the Netherlands in their first match of the World Twenty20 Qualifiers, here 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 the Bangla bowlers restricted the Dutch to 145 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.
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 (2/24).
Needing 17 off the final over, the ‘Orange Brigade’ could only manage eight runs off Taskin Ahmed as the ‘Tigers’ looked relieved with a win.
Earlier, swashbuckling Tamim did not let the fall of wickets at the other end affect him as he stroked his way to a fine knock. The other Bangladeshi batsmen couldn’t score much with Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman contributing 15 runs each.
The Netherlands medium-pacer Timm van der Gugten (3/21) was the pick of the bowlers and he was well-supported by Paul van Meekeren (2/17).
