Tiger out to beat Netherlands to keep Super 8 hopes alive

 Bangladesh are determined to get back to winning way when they take on Netherlands in their third game of the T20 World Cup at St. Vicent in West Indies on Thursday. The match starts at 8.30 PM (Bangladesh Time).

A win against Netherlands will keep them in the hunt of the Super 8 phase. Bangladesh edged Sri Lanka past by two wickets in a thrilling contest but conceded a heartbreaking four-run defeat to South Africa after failing to chase down just 114 runs.

The Netherlands however is believed to give Bangladesh a tough fight, considering their form in this tournament.

But Bangladesh had the upper-hand over the Dutch at least in T20 World Cup. They beat Netherlands twice in T20 World Cup history at Dharamashala in 2016 and at Hobert in 2022. Overall they won three matches against the Dutch in four meetings.

But what would haunt Bangladesh was their 87-run defeat to Netherlands in 2023 ODI World Cup in India. The defeat which was a tough pill to swallow sparked a widespread criticism back in in country. When they will take on Netherlands again in another World Cup, albeit in another format of cricket, the defeat is believed to come to haunt them again.

Many believes, Bangladesh will desperately seek to take a revenge of that humiliating defeat when they face off Netherlands again. But the Tigers are unfazed by what happened in the past.

“The match that we lost to Netherlands is past now. That was in the ODI format. But it’s a different format of cricket,” Bangladesh pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib said.

“As a group, we have been in good stead even though we lost the game to South Africa after coming agonizingly close. But our team unity is very strong. I think if we continue our performance in same vein, we can beat any team in the world.

He also added that Bangladesh are now eying to win the last two matches of the group in a bid to confirm the Super 8 phase.

“The defeat against South Africa is past now. We have two matches at hands, so we need to win those two matches. We are confident that we will be able to beat those two teams.”

Bangladesh’s however will hope ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan to regain his form ahead of the crucial game. Shakib was his shadow in the last two matches but it is believed his lean patch with the bat cost Bangladesh the game against South Africa.

However, despite Shakib’s off form, Bangladesh are unlikely to bring up any changes to the squad.

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Taskin Ahmed, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Tanvir Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib. Travelling reserves: Afif Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.

Netherlands: Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max O'Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Scott Edwards (capt/wk), Saqib Zulfiqar, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh, Vivian Kingma, Wesley Barresi.