Iqbal hammered six boundaries and three sixes during his magnificent innings of 83 not out
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal walloped a sensational 83 not out as Bangladesh skirted past Netherlands by eight runs in Dharamsala.
Netherlands captain Peter Borren would have been pleased with his decision to bowl first initially as Iqbal was the only batsman to have a major impact.
Besides Iqbal’s unbeaten 83, which came off 58 balls and included six boundaries and three sixes, none of the other Bangladesh batsmen got past 15 runs. As a result, Bangladesh finished on 153/7 off their 20 overs.
Timm van der Gugten was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Paul van Meekeren snapped up two and Borren and Roelof van der Merwe chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Chasing 154 to win, Borren, Stephan Myburgh and Ben Cooper were the only three batsman to make decent contributions as they scored 30, 29 and 20 respectively.
With none of the other batsmen offering any support, Netherlands fell short of their target as they finished on 145/7 off their 20 overs.
Al-Amin Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan took two wickets apiece, while Nasir Hossain and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza claimed one wicket each.
Borren was disappointed to have lost, and said: “Right in the end of our bowling and batting innings, it got away from us. We wanted to be in that position towards the end. Van Meekeren showed good character to come back from that drop and showed the length to bowl.”
Mortaza was relieved to have beaten Netherlands, and said: “They were in a good situation after 10 overs, we got back to back wickets which was the turning point. Last over is always difficult to bowl but the way Taskin was bowling, I was pretty confident that he would do it.”
Iqbal was named Man of the Match, and said: “After playing a few domestic T20 leagues, the confidence has come back. I’ve been talking to my coaches and been calm in the middle. They bowled a decent line and length, the wicket wasn’t the easiest. I thought we were 15 runs short. We came back from summer, and this has been different. It feels like you have a breathing problem here.”