DHAKA: Bangladesh have beaten Netherlands by 8-run in the third match of the first round of ICC World T20 at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala of India on Wednesday (March 9).

This was a combined team bowling effort from Bangladesh to notch the points on the board. A spirited Netherlands chase falls short.

Tiger bowlers chipped away regularly and ensured the new batsmen struggled with some tight bowling. Plenty of contributions from the Netherlands batsmen but no one was able to carry on.

Earlier, winning the toss, Netherlands captain PW Borren invited Bangladesh to bat first.

Tiger batsmen scored 153-run losing seven wickets from their 20-over quota against the Dutch team.

Tamim Iqbal helped Bangladesh to reach the total single-handedly, with a great display of batsmanship. He kept his wicket and hit a blazing 83-run off 58-ball even as wickets fell regularly around him.

Besides, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah took 15, 15 and 10 runs respectively.

Tamim’s unbeaten 83 was 54.25 percent of Bangladesh’s team total which is the 2nd highest percentage for any Bangladesh Batsman in T20I.

Highest one is by Sabbir. He scored 80-run, which is 54.42 percent of team total played in Asia Cup 2016 against Sri Lanka.

Netherlands bowlers were very good in the middle and towards the end and did quite well to keep Tigers down to 153.

T van der Gugten picked up three wickets while PA van Meekeren took two. Besides, RE van der Merwe and PW Borren took one wicket each in the match.

In response, Netherlands managed to score 145-run losing seven wickets from their 20-over quota.

SJ Myburgh and PW Borren scored 29-run each while BN Cooper and TLW Cooper took 20 and 15 runs respectively.

Of the Bangladesh bowlers, Al-Amin Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan took two wickets each. Besides, Nasir Hossain and captain Mashrafe took one wicket each.

Every match is important for the Tigers as they must be group champion to qualify for the main event of the ICC World T20.

Mustafizur Rahman did not play the match here. Bangladesh, however, had one change from the Asia Cup final, Arafat Sunny came in for Abu Hider.

BDST: 1937 HRS, MAR 09, 2016
SR/SMS

** Tigers set Dutch 154-run target