Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed picked up a career-best Thursday with 4/10 as Bangladesh beat Afghanistan in their first 61-run T20I.
Bangladesh beat Afghanistan in first T20I by 61 runs to take a 1-0 lead (@ICC Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Bangladesh beat Afghanistan in their first T20I by 61 runs
- Liton hit fifty to help Bangladesh reach a challenging total
- Nasum Ahmed finished his four overs with numbers of 4-17-10-4
Bangladesh rode the best 4 of 12 of left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed in Dhaka on Thursday (March 3) in the first match of a T20I series featuring two T20I players in Dhaka to beat Afghanistan by 94 and claim an overwhelming victory .
Pacer Shoriful Islam grabbed 3/29 and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan 2/18 to complement the efforts of Nasum, who reduced Afghanistan to 20/4 in the fifth over.
Afghanistan could not recover from the first blow and were eventually dismissed for 94 in 17.4 overs in response to Bangladesh’s 155/8.
Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi attempted a comeback for Afghanistan with a score of 37 until Nabi held out at 16 to give all-rounder Shakib his 400th white ball wicket.
In his next over, Shakib also sacked Zadran, who had the best score of 27.
Bangladesh wins
They beat Afghanistan in the first T20I by 61 runs to take a 1-0 lead #BANvAFG pic.twitter.com/Ll8dBM25d1
— ICC (@ICC) March 3, 2022
Debutant Azmatullah Omarzai added 20 against Bangladesh’s disciplined bowling
Previously, Liton Das hit a 44-ball 60 to get Bangladesh going. Afif Hossain scored 25 points and debutant Munim Shahriar made 17 after they decided to bat first.
Opener Naim Sheikh continued his poor form with a 2nd place finish and Shahriar was sent off by Rashid Khan to leave Bangladesh 25-2.
Liton attacked while losing cheaply to Shakib (5) and Skipper Mahmudullah (10).
Liton and Afif shrewdly dealt with Afghanistan’s much-vaunted spin attack, which consisted of Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Nabi, and shared a 46-year partnership.
Liton was reaching his fifty and pushing a Rashid delivery on a single. However, after hitting four fours and two sixes, he was eventually removed by Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Farooqi and Omarzai each took two wickets and prevented Bangladesh from making it big in the Death Overs.
The second and last T20 is on Saturday.
