Taskin leads Bangladesh to T20 World Cup victory over the Netherlands

Bangladesh quick Taskin Ahmed has picked up a career-best 4-25 as his side opened their Twenty20 World Cup with a breakthrough 9 runs win over the Netherlands at Bellerive Oval here today.

The magnitude of the victory was huge-it was their first victory in the main round of T20 World Cup since their victory against West Indies in the inaugural edition in 2007 and also they achieved a victory on Australian soil in their maiden T20 appearance.

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed broke spine of the Netherlands batting, taking wickets in the first two balls, which eventually made the victory easier one. Otherwise, it was supposed to be tough game for the Tigers after they put up just 144-8.

Failing to recover from Taskin blow forced Netherland to pay heavily as they were eventually shot out for 135 in 20 overs.

Taskin finished with 4-0-25-4. His fellow paceman Hasan Mahmud also made his first T20 World Cup match memorable one, with an excellent figure of 4-1-15-2. Captain Shakib Al Hasan grabbed 1-32.

Colin Ackermann fought lonely against the venom of Taskin and Mahmud and helped the side get past 100, which looked unlikely after they were slumped to 15-4 in fourth over.

Ackermann finally was dismissed by Taskin in the 17th over, striking an excellent 62 off 48 with six fours and two sixes. No.11 batter Paul van Meekeren struck a 24 off 14 with three fours and one six.

The only batter of Netherlands who could reach double digit mark was captain Scott Edwards as he scored 16.

Even though the overcast condition is challenging, Bangladesh batters failed to make their start count once again. Afif Hossain was the top-scorer for the side with 27 ball-38, hitting two fours and as many sixes. Bangladesh needed him to finish the things off but he was dismissed in the 18th over, leaving Bangladesh at least 20 runs short of their desired target.

After being asked to bat first, Bangladesh got a solid start from Najmul Hossain and Soumya Sarkar who gave the fans hopes with a flurry of boundaries in the first powerplay.

But as Bangladesh looked to take the stranglehold, pacer Paul van Meekeren dismissed Soumya for 14 to begin the rot.

Najmul Hossain Shanto was undone by the left-arm spin of Tim Pringle as Bangladesh moved to 47 in the first six overs, a start that was counted fairly well. But Shanto's dismissal on 25 runs damaged Bangladesh further.

Liton Das, captain Shakib Al Hasan and Yasir Ali then were removed in single digit figure as Bangladesh were reduced to 76-5 in the 11th over.

Afif drove the side past 100, playing with the serenity that made him the Bangladesh's consistent run-getter in the T20 format. Mossaddek gave him the apt support and played a knock of 20 not out off 12 which gave Bangladesh something to defend amid huge disappointing batting.

Paul van Meekeren, Das de Leede took two wickets each for Netherlands while Pringle, Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek and Fred Klaassen picked up one wicket apiece.