Shakib Al Hasan praised his Bangladesh players for holding their nerve in the crunch game against Holland and winning it by six wickets in Chittagong.

Bangladesh stay in contention for the quarter-final place with the victory and are currently fourth in the points table - one place above England - but may still need to win their last Group B game against South Africa to confirm a last-eight berth.

The Tigers can afford to lose that match only if England, who sit fifth in the pool, fail to beat West Indies in their final group game on Thursday.

The tournament's co-hosts dominated their latest contest completely by dismissing Holland for 160 and then overhauling the total comfortably, thanks to an unbeaten 73 from Imrul Kayes.

Captain Shakib said Bangladesh's players showed character in overpowering Holland and hoped to enter quarter-finals on their own performance rather than waiting for the outcome of the England-West Indies game.

"It was a nervous game because we had to win to stay in the contest," Shakib said.

"The boys played well and showed lot of character. The fast bowlers set up the game for spinners by not giving many runs. Abdur Razzak then took there wickets and ensured we are in the game."

On Thursday's important group match between England and West Indies, Shakib said: "We will watch the (England-West Indies) game very closely, but we will try our best and do well against South Africa."

Losing captain Peter Borren said the performance by his batsmen left him disappointed.

"We set out to play brave cricket, but played some bad cricket," Borren said.

"It was not an easy wicket to rotate strike, but the 160 we scored was not enough.

"We needed to work hard. Today was an opportunity for us but our performance was disappointing."