Kingstown (St Vincent), June 14: Shakib Al Hasan slammed an unbeaten half-century to help Bangladesh beat the Netherlands by 25 runs in a Group D clash and put themselves on the verge of qualification for the Super 8 stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup here on Thursday. Bangladesh and the Netherlands were in the hunt for the second qualifying spot from the Group with South Africa assured their place in the Super Eight with three wins in three matches. By winning the match on Thursday, Bangladesh are 

Shakib hammered 64 not out off 46 balls to propel Bangladesh to 159/5 in 20 overs. Later, the Bangla Tigers defended the target with Rishad Hossain claiming 3-33 and Taskin Ahmed bagging 2-30 as the Netherlands were restricted to 132/8 in 20 overs at the Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent.

.Each of the top five in the Netherlands batting order reached double figures, with the match seemingly in the balance for long stretches of their reply. But wickets fell too frequently for the Dutch to sustain their required run-rate, and their attempt fizzled out with the target still 25 runs away at the close. Some clever pace-off bowling by Bangladesh ensured that the run rate never felt under control.

The Netherlands were off to a bad start in their chase of 160 as they lost Michael Levitt (15) to Taskin Ahmed in the fifth over with the score at 22. Max O'Dowd too departed soon for 12, caught by Tanzim Hasan off his own bowling.

Vikramjit Singh (28) and Sybrand Engelbracht (33) took the score to 69 before the former was out. Engelbrecht and skipper Scott Edwards (25) took the score to 110 before the former was out to Rishad Hossain. The Dutch fight ended when Edwards was out to Mustafizur Rahman for 25 off 23 balls as the Netherlands fell short by 25 runs.

Earlier, a superb unbeaten 64 from 46 balls by Shakib Al Hasan helped Bangladesh reach a decent first innings score of 159/5, with helpful contributions from Tanzid Hasan (35), Mahmudullah (25), and Jaker Ali (14 not out). Shakib struck nine boundaries during his 74-minute stay at the crease, adding 41 runs for the fifth wicket stand with Mahmudullah.

The Dutch struck the first blow after winning the toss and opting to bowl first following a short rain delay. Aryan Dutt proved tricky to get away in the Powerplay, picking up the wickets of Najmul Hossain Shanto and Litton Das, with the latter falling to an outrageous catch by Sybrand Engelbrecht.

A fiery partnership between Tanzid Hasan (35 from 26) and Shakib Al Hasan saw Bangladesh accelerate towards a competitive score. Paul van Meekeren stemmed the flow of the runs when he had Tanzid caught in the deep, and Tim Pringle struck to remove a bogged-down Towhid Hridoy (9 from 15) as pace off proved the most effective option for the Dutch on a sticky surface.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 159/5 in 20 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 64 not out, Tanzid Hasan 35, Mahmudullah 25; Aryan Dutt 2-17, Paul van Meekeren 2-15) beat Netherlands 134/8 in 20 overs (Sybrand Engelbrecht 33, Vikramjit Singh 26, Scott Edwards 25; Rishad Hossain 3-33, Taskin Ahmed 2-30) by 25 runs.

--IANS