Bangladesh beat Afghanistan in 1st T20I: Records broken
Bangladesh claimed a dominant win over Afghanistan in the 1st T20I at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. They successfully defended 155 by rolling over the visitors for 90. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed stole the show by taking four wickets for just 10 runs. Earlier, top-order batter Liton Das smashed a match-defining 60. Bangladesh have finally produced a victory after losing eight consecutive T20Is.
Bangladesh had a patchy start after electing to bat first. They were reduced to 80/4 in 10.5 overs. However, Liton Das and Afif Hossain took the hosts past 120. Bangladesh clawed their way to 151/8, with Das registering a fighting 60 (44). Nasum Ahmed destroyed Afghanistan's top order early on. Shoriful Islam and Shakib Al Hasan did the damage eventually.
Bangladesh have bounced back in T20Is after losing eight consecutive games. They lost all five matches at the 2021 T20 World Cup to Sri Lanka, England, West Indies, South Africa, and Australia, respectively. Pakistan then routed Bangladesh 3-0 in the three-match T20I series.
Nasum Ahmed (4/10) and Shoriful Islam (3/29) shared a total of seven wickets between them. The former recorded an economy rate of just 2.50. All-rounder Shakib picked two wickets (2/18), while left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman took a solitary wicket (1/19). It is the first time in T20I history that left-arm bowlers have taken all 10 wickets in an innings.
Liton Das was the chief architect of Bangladesh's 61-run win. He scored 60 off 44 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes. It was his fifth half-century in T20I cricket. Notably, the next best scorer was Afif Hossain (25). The former raced to 900 runs in the format. He now has 904 T20I runs from 47 matches.
Nasum Ahmed was named the Player of the Match for his extraordinary four-over spell. He took four wickets for just 10 runs and delivered 17 dot balls. Ahmed has become the first Bangladesh bowler to take four wickets in powerplay of a T20I match.
