ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 2, Bangladesh vs Netherlands: Taskin Ahmed’s 4-25, Colin Ackermann’s 68 and Paul van Meekeren’s 2-21 & 24 are top performances. Bangladesh beat Netherlands by 9 runs in Super 12s game.
Brief Scores: BAN 144/8 (Afif 38, Shanto 25, Meekeren 2/21) beat NED 135 (Ackermann 62, Meekeren 24, Taskin 4/25) by 9 runs
Player of the Match: Taskin Ahmed (4/25 in four overs)
Unsettled Bangladesh who have been demoted to the ninth rank on the back of their poor performances in the shortest format of the game locked horns with confident looking Netherlands who have progressed to the Super 12 round after fetching two victories in the previous round. The second Group 2 game of this round of the World Cup was held in Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
In three games between these two sides, Bangladesh have won two while Netherlands tasted victory in just a solitary game.
The show of scratchy Bangladesh batters and decent Netherlands bowlers
Bangladesh openers offered them a decent start but the following batters failed to take advantage of the situation as some of the irresponsible shots from most of the batters saw Bangladesh limping at 76/5 after being 43/0 at one stage. Only Afif Hossain smashed a few big shots in the end to take Bangladesh to a decent total.
On the flipside of the coin, Netherlands were not disciplined with their line and lengths at the start of their bowling but they regrouped and with proper planning sent back the Bangladesh batters with a little help from the opponents too. The spinners and the pacers used the dimensions of the ground and variations to keep the batters struggling.
Bangladesh held their nerves to manage narrow Super 12 victory
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards on winning the toss decided to bowl first. Bangladesh left out Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain from the squad for this game while Netherlands brought in Shariz Ahmed and Logan van Beek in place of injured Roelof van der Merwe and Timm van der Gugten.
Bangladesh went off to a decent start in the powerplay with 43/0 in five overs but a few irresponsible shots from them with good planning from Netherlands saw Bangladesh falling at 76/5 in 11 overs. The 44-run stand for the sixth wicket fired them to 120/6 in 17 overs before a few big shots from Mosaddek Hossain and Afif Hossain’s 27-ball 38 led them to 144/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Netherlands found themselves under pressure from the very first over being 15/4 in the fourth over. Wickets were falling form one end but Colin Ackermann stood there almost till the end with an excellent display of batting before Paul van Meekeren’s hit some big shots but failed to prevent Bangladesh from securing a nine-run win.
Let’s take a look at the top three performances from the game between Bangladesh and Netherlands from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Paul van Meekeren-Bas de Leede duo punctured Netherlands with figures of 4/50
Shouldering on a decent opening partnership from the openers, Bangladesh went off to a good start in the powerplay but some good bowling from the Netherlands bowlers pulled the game back in their favour.
Paul van Meekeren drew first blood for the Dutch sending back opener Soumya Sarkar on 14 who in an attempt to pull the ball didn’t time it well only to see the mid-wicket fielder taking an easy catch. That wicket saw Bangladesh losing wickets in a cluster. Coming back into his third over, Meekeren sent back Yasir Ali on 3 who playing down the wrong line saw the middle stump rolling back.
With that wicket, Meekeren who now has 58 T20I wickets in 52 games joins Pieter Seelaar as the leading wicket-taker for the Dutch in T20Is. Meekeren finished with 2/21 in his four overs. With the bat too, he managed 24 runs in just 14 balls with three boundaries and one maximum.
Van Meekeren was well supported by Bas de Leede who bagged the wicket of Nurul Hasan on 13 who flicked a length ball uppishly to fine leg region where the fielder charged in to take a brilliant catch. Off the last ball of the same over, de Leede sent back dangerous looking Afif Hossain on 38 who tried to pull only to see the edge die in the hands of the jumping keeper.
Bas de Leede who has 23 wickets in 28 T20Is returned with figures of 2/29 in his three overs. He is also the second highest wicket-taker of the tournament so far with nine wickets in four games.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Gr A, SL v NED: Mendis 79, Hasaranga 3-28 take Sri Lanka through to Super 12
Expressive Taskin Ahmed blew away Netherlands besides support from Hasan Mahmud
Defending a decent total of 145, Bangladesh needed to punch a few early blows to Netherlands in the powerplay and their veteran expressive bowler Taskin Ahmed stood out in some style.
With the very first ball of the second innings, Taskin recorded the wicket of Vikramjit Singh who just had a poke at a length ball outside his body as the slip fielder grabbed a sharp catch, inches above the ground.
The very second ball gifted the wicket of Bas de Leede who just tried to cut a short and quick ball outside off stump as the edge of the bat stopped in the hands of the wicketkeeper to bring the end of de Leede as Taskin picked up two wickets in the very first over, before finishing his powerplay spell at 2/12 in three overs. He also becomes the third bowler after Nuwan Kulasekara and Chris Woakes to pick up two wickets in the first two balls of a T20I innings.
Taskin came back in his last over picked up the wicket of Shariz Ahmed before caging the ‘big fish’ Colin Ackermann on 62 who pulled it straight to deep mid-on as Taskin returned with 4/25 in his four overs; he now has 32 T20I wickets in 42 games.
Taskin got full support from Hasan Mahmud who in his third over pocketed the wicket of Tim Pringle on 1 who missed a swipe only to see the stumps being uprooted. He then deposited the wicket of Logan van Beek on 2 who going for the pull top-edged it to the hands of fine-leg as Hasan Mahmud who has nine T20I wickets in seven games returned with 2/15 in four overs including a maiden over.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Group A, NED v UAE: Netherlands prevail in low-scoring game; win by 3 wkts
Colin Ackermann’s 62-run show brightens the stage
Netherlands found themselves under all sorts of pressure being 0/2 after the first two balls when Colin Ackermann walked out in the middle at number four to settle the ship. He drilled his first boundary over the covers before thumping Taskin Ahmed off the very next ball in the same region for the same result.
Making room, he smashed Hasan Mahmud through the covers for his third boundary before slashing Soumya Sarkar past the short third fielder for another boundary. Even though he was going at a run-a-ball, he was rotating the strike in between those big shots before smacking his first six down the ground. He followed it up with another maximum behind deep square to celebrate his maiden T20I fifty in 39 balls.
Ackermann kept on dealing in boundaries before being dismissed on 62 in 48 balls with the help of six boundaries and couple of sixes as he now has 379 T20I runs in 18 games at a strike rate of 117.34.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Gr A, NED v NAM: De Leede’s 2-18, 30* boosts Netherlands’ Super 12 chances
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Group 2 Points Table
Points Table Scenario & What’s to Come
Bangladesh will now face South Africa while Netherlands will meet India in their respective second games of Super 12. Both games will be played on October 27 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney.
Bangladesh tops the chart of Group 2 with a better NRR of 0.450 as India slips to second position with a NRR of 0.050.
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