‘A big win for us’

Pacer Taskin Ahmed's career-best T20I figures helped Bangladesh to their maiden win in the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup as the Tigers registered a nine-run victory against the Netherlands at the Bellerive Oval on Monday.

On a gloomy day in Hobart, Taskin took four for 25, helping Bangladesh restrict the Netherlands to 135 all out in 20 overs after posting a competitive 144 for eight.

The win comes as a huge relief for the Tigers, who have been enduring a lean patch in the shortest format for a while, losing 14 of the 19 played since they exited the last year's edition without a single win in the Super 12s in the UAE.

Bangladesh have played in all of the seven previous editions of the T20 World Cup and their only notable victory was in the very first edition 15 years ago against the West Indies in 2007 in Johannesburg. But that victory was also in the group stages, making yesterday's win a significant one despite it being against an associate nation.

In fact, teams like Zimbabwe, Ireland, and the Netherlands all boast wins past the group stage of the T20 World Cup.

"We could never win a game in the Super 12 or Super 10 stages of the tournament. This is a big win for us. Nowadays, no one has the luxury to underestimate any side in T20Is. World Champions like the West Indies were knocked out from the qualifiers [first round]. So, this was definitely a big win for us," player of the match Taskin said after the game.

It was Taskin who hit the ground running with two wickets off the first two deliveries, pushing the men in orange on the backfoot at the beginning of their chase. The right-arm pacer had Dutch opener Vikramjit Singh edge one back to the first slip and then followed it up with Bas de Leede nicking one back to the wicketkeeper.

And with two run-outs in one over, courtesy of some excellent ground fielding by the Tigers, the Netherlands slumped to 15 for four in just 3.4 overs.

Colin Ackermann played a lone hand for his side, scoring a 48-ball 62, but that never gave chills to Shakib Al Hasan's troops in cold conditions at Hobart. Taskin ended the day just as he had started, with a double-wicket over as he removed Shariz Ahmad and Ackermann in the 17th over.

Meanwhile, the other game yesterday at the same venue between South Africa and Zimbabwe was washed out due to rain.