The seasoned Shakib Al Hasan roared back to form with a sublime 46-ball 64 as Bangladesh got the better of the Netherlands by 25 runs in their must-win Group D match of the T20 World Cup, at St Vincent, in Kingstown, on Thursday.
After putting up a competitive 159 for 5, Bangladesh restricted the Dutch to 134 for 8 for their second victory in three matches to go to second in the group, behind South Africa, and stay in the reckoning for a Super 8 berth.
Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain was the standout bowler for Bangladesh with three wickets for 33 runs.
The result meant Sri Lanka are knocked out of the tournament.
Sent in to bat Bangladesh were well-aided by Shakib, Tanzid Hasan (35 off 26 balls) and Mahmudullah (25 off 21) and Jaker Ali, who blazed away to 14 off just 7 balls.
With Bangladesh starting their innings with two left-handers, the Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards tossed the new ball to off-spinner Aryan Dutt in the second over, and the move paid instant dividends as they got the big wicket of Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (1).
The Dutch would do well to thank the Bangladesh captain for a horrendous shot selection, as he went for a needless reverse sweep and was caught by first slip.
Dutt also accounted for Litton Das at the beginning of fourth over thanks to a stunning catch in the deep by a sprinting Sybrand Engelbrecht.
After Das swept Dutt towards square leg, Engelbrecht covered a lot of ground and dived full-length to pull off the catch.
The shot Das played was unnecessary given that Tanzid Hasan had picked up two boundaries and a six in the previous over.
For the maximum, Tanzid danced down the ground and flayed it over cover.
The only change in the Dutch line-up for this vital Group D match, Dutt vindicated the team management's decision by returning excellent figures of 2/17 in his full quota of four overs.
Paul van Meekeren (2/15) was also brilliant with the ball.
As many as 18 came off the fourth over, bowled by Vivian Kingma and Bangladesh were on their way.
Struggling for form prior to this game, Shakib collected four boundaries in the sixth over, which yielded 19 runs, as Bangladesh reached 54 for 2 at the end of the powerplay.
Meanwhile, Tanzid tried to hit van Meekeren against the wind and paid the price, holing out to Bas de Leede in the outfield.
Bangladesh's two most-experienced players, Mahmudullah and Shakib then added 41 runs for the fourth wicket to prop the team.
However, as the innings entered its final stretch, Mahmudullah, having hit two sixes and two furs, was done in by the strong wind as Engelbrecht completed another good catch near the rope.
In the chase, the Netherlands lost two wickets with just 32 runs on the board, and, most importantly, with the powerplay about to end.
Vikramjit Singh (26 off 16 balls) hit three sixes and was looking dangerous when Mahmudullah had the batter stumped leaving Bangladesh on 69 for 3 in the 10th over.
Sybrand Engelbrecht (33 off 22 balls) and skipper Scott Edwards (25 off 23) added 42 runs for the fourth wicket before leg-spinner Rishad struck twice to the turn the game on its head.
Left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, bowling brilliantly at the other end, sent back Edwards and Rishad returned to dismiss Logan van Beek cheaply to almost seal the match for Bangladesh.
Netherlands needed 86 off 60 balls, and tried to make a match of it but then, all of a sudden, they lost four wickets as the the trio of Taskin Ahmed (2/30), Rishad (3/33) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/12) came up with excellent performances.
