Preview: Bangladesh hope for winning start against Netherlands
Shakib Al Hasan and his men qualified directly for the Super 12s but their form since the last edition of the tournament has been really ordinary. Bangladesh have played 19 T20Is since the ICC Men's T20 World Cup last year and have lost 14 of them while winning only four times.
The tri-series against Pakistan and New Zealand was their last assignment ahead of the mega event this year and they lost all of the four matches they played in that series by fairly big margins.
Bangladesh v Netherlands Preview | Match 17 | ICC Men's T20WC 2022
There were little signs of improvement in the warm-up matches either. The match against South Africa got washed out by rain but Afghanistan completely outclassed them in the other warm-up fixture. While Afghanistan made 160/7, Bangladesh could muster only 98/9 in their 20 overs.
Bangladesh have to believe that they can turn things around. They are placed in Group 2 which consists of strong teams like India, Pakistan and South Africa. It will be important for Shakib and his men to win against Netherlands and gain some early momentum in their campaign.
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Afghanistan dazzle against disappointing Bangladesh | Match Highlights | T20WC 2022 Warm-Up
17 Oct 22
The Dutch, on the other hand, will be inspired to do well this time around. They won two of their three qualifying stage matches to book their berth in the Super 12 and were also helped by Namibia’s loss to the UAE in the final match of the group stage. While the bowlers have done a great job for the team, the batters haven’t really turned up yet.
They have been a bit over-dependent on their top-order batter Max O’Dowd’s batting exploits so far. But the other players will really need to step up if they want to deliver a competitive performance against even stronger teams at this stage of the tournament.
Netherlands: Max O'Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Bas de Leede, Tom Cooper, Colin Ackermann, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Tim Pringle, Logan van Beek, Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Soumya Sarkar, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nurul Hasan (wk), Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
**Bas de Leede:**He is yet to fire with the bat but Bas de Leede has been in superb bowling form, with seven wickets to his name at a mean average of 9.71. De Leede has been bowling in the middle and death overs for the Netherlands and he has been successful in picking up wickets while keeping the runs in check.
Bas de Leede turns match for Netherlands with triple threat over | POTM Highlights | T20WC 2022
**Shakib Al Hasan:**Shakib is going to be Bangladesh's most important player in this encounter. He is highly experienced having played over 100 T20Is and has amassed 2000 runs in the format while claiming 122 wickets. Shakib was seen in good batting form during the tri-series in New Zealand. He amassed 154 runs during the tri-nation series at an average of 51.33 and strike rate over 150.
**Captaincy Pick:**Shakib Al Hasan
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was in top-notch form during the T20 tri-series which included New Zealand and Pakistan apart from Bangladesh. He was a part of just three games but he smashed 154 runs at a strike rate of nearly 151. Though he has taken just five wickets in 10 T20Is this year, he remains an extremely important spin bowling option for his team.
**Must-Have Pick:**Bas de Leede
22-year-old Netherlands all-rounder Bas de Leede has clinched seven scalps in the tournament at an average of 9.71 and an economy of 7.55 so far. Appreciably, he is Netherlands’ highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in T20Is this year as he has struck 347 runs at an average of 57.83 and bagged 17 scalps at an average of 10.29.
**Differential pick:**Paul van Meekeren
The Netherlands seamer was in good form against Sri Lanka and will be key if they are to rattle Bangladesh early with the new ball.