Taskin's two wickets in first two balls place Tigers on top

Bangladesh could not have asked for a better start in their defence of 145 runs as pacer Taskin Ahmed picked two wickets in the first two deliveries of the Netherlands innings in the two sides' first Super 12 encounter in the T20 World Cup at Hobart's Bellerive Oval today.

The Netherlands are struggling in their chase, at 32 for four after six overs with Colin Ackermann batting on 21.

Exhibiting a fine display of pace bowling, Taskin dismissed Vikramjit Singh (0) in the innings' first delivery as the Dutch opener was caught brilliantly at first slip by Yasir Ali. Taskin then followed up the next ball with an outswinger that induced Bas de Leede (0) to poke at it, leading to a caught-behind dismissal.  

In the fourth over, dangerman Max O'Dowd (8) departed after striking the first boundary for the Dutch side before poor running between the wickets, coupled with a brilliant throw from the deep by Afif Hossain, led to his downfall. Tom Cooper (0) suffered the same fate in the same over off Shakib Al Hasan. During this dismissal, Najmul Hossain Shanto was the chief architect after he saved a boundary with a sliding effort before superbly throwing the ball in time at the wicketkeeper's end.    

Earlier, Paul van Meekeren became the Netherlands joint all-time top wicket-taker as Bangladesh were held to 144 for eight.