Bangladesh scored 159 runs on a decent track at the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent in an international match after more than 10 years at the venue, which might be par given the slow conditions in the Caribbean after the Dutch opted to field first. Shakib Al Hasan, the veteran all-rounder put his hand up for Bangladesh as he and Jaker Ali in the end got their side to a score that could be defended looking at the trend of the matches in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. However, the moment of the first innings belonged to Sybrand Engelbrecht.
Former South Africa U19 cricketer, who played the junior World Cup in 2008, anticipated the catch rather well. Litton Das slog swept an Aryan Dutt delivery, however, he didn't get much distance on it on the first delivery of the foourth over of the innings. Engelbrecht ran from the deep square leg to his left for around 25 metres, timed his jump to perfection and held on to a stunning full-length diving catch to see the back of Das.
The Dutch players were all around Engelbrecht as they knew it was an important wicket and it was as good as catches can get. Watch the video here:
After losing a couple of wickets in the powerplay, Shakib and Tazid Hasan stitched a crucial 48-run stand to take Bangladesh's innings forward. Shakib after a few low scores, looked really good as Bangladesh might have felt a bit at home with the ball turning and staying a bit low on the surface.
The hero in the first two games for Bangladesh, Towhid Hridoy didn't have a great outing but Shakib continued on and smashed an unbeaten 64. Bangladesh got two early wickets and will hope to avenge the defeat of World Cup 2023 against the Dutch.