Bangladesh embarrassed by Netherlands
Bangladesh conceded one of the most embarrassing losses in their history to end all sorts of mathematical hope of reaching the semifinal of the World Cup 2023.
Bangladesh were expecting big things in the ongoing tournament but after winning the first match against Afghanistan now they have lost five in a row and the last one against Netherlands at Kolkata was somewhat shocking.
However, the fate of the game was sealed at the halfway stage of the Bangladesh chase as the top order reduced to 70-6 at the iconic Eden Gardens in front of many Bangladeshi fans. The late order batters just reduced the defeat margin.
Chasing a mediocre 230 Litton Das looked very stiff. He failed to connect properly and his innings came to an end when he tried to reverse sweep off spinner Aryan Dutt just to be caught by wicketkeeper Scott Edwards. Litton scored three off 12.
His partner Tanjid Hasan got out six balls later with the same score on the board, 19, in the second ball of the fifth over when he flashed Van Beek to wicketkeeper.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who was once again promoted to three, played some shots and looked in good touch with Najmul Hossain but the latter played another loose shot that brought his demise.
Najmul, who has been in awful form, chased a wide delivery of Van Meekeren to be caught at slip by van Beek to be out for nine.
Shakib al Hasan was expected to play a captain’s knock under the pressure situation but he threw away his wicket getting caught behind off Meekeren for five as Bangladesh became 63-4 and soon highest scorer Miraz, who made 35 off 40, was caught behind off Bas de Leede to leave his on 69-5 in 16.5 overs.
The last real hope evaporated in the next over when Mushfiqur Rahim was deceived by a slower delivery to be bowled for one.
Mahmudullah, the centurion of the last match, once again was bestowed to damage control but this time round he got just 20 as did Mustafizur Rahman batting at ten. Taskin made 11 and became the last wicket amidst the euphoria of the Dutch side which clinched its second win of the tournament.
Earlier, on the day after winning the toss Netherlands lost both the openers when only four runs were registered on the board thanks to wicket apiece from Taskin and Shoriful Islam.
Wesley Barresi, the oldest player of the World Cup, counterattacked and scored run-a-ball 41 before getting caught by Shakib of a Mustafizur slower.
The role reversed for the Bangladesh pair in the next over when they dismissed Ackermann for 15 and Bangladesh were on top.
However, Netherlands skipper Edwards got two reprieves in the same over, 16th of the innings bowled by Mustafiz, as Litton at slip and wicketkeeper Mushfiq dropped him in the second and fourth ball respectively.
Those proved too costly for the fielding side as Edwards steered his side to a challenging total by scoring 68 off 89. He also formed the most important partnership of the match when he added 78 with Sybrand Engelbrecht in the sixth wicket stand.
Eadwards was caught by Mirza off Mustafiz and his partner Engelbrecht got out in the same total next over when he tried to sweep Mahdi Hasan and missed to get trapped in front.
Van Beek took charge on the last over against Mahedi to pick 16 vital runs that helped his side end with a fighting total. In the end it was enough to fetch a big one against a side that seems to have lost all the clues in the tournament.