BAN vs AFG | 1st T20I | Bangladesh cruise past visitors with a 61-run win

Bangladesh took on Afghanistan in the first T20I of the two-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Mirpur on Thursday (3rd March). The hosts were coming off a 2-1 win in the ODI series and kept their momentum intact with a massive win over the visitors in the 1st T20I. 

The Tigers opted to bat first after winning the toss and had a rocky start as Fazelhaq Farooqi picked up the first wicket in the 3rd over to watch Mohammad Naim’s back. Even before the hosts could make a return in the game, Rashid Khan sent Munim Shahriar packing with the score reading at 25/2 in the first 5 overs.

Shakib Al Hasan tried to build a partnership alongside Liton Das but could add just five runs to his tally as he was sent back to the pavilion by Qais Ahmed. Captain Mahmudullah tried to give the innings a little stabilization alongside Das could not fare well against the Afghan attack and was the next to depart, putting the hosts at 80/4 in 11 overs.

Afif Hossain put up a 46-run partnership alongside Das which saw the team reach 125 runs in the 17th over. However, the visitors fired back with two consecutive wickets of both Hossain and Das to push the batting side to the backfoot with six wickets down at the score of 127. The tail-enders managed to put up a decent fight as the hosts managed to score 155 runs at the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.

It was a rocky start for the visitors as they lost their opening pair in Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first three overs, courtesy of Nasum Ahmed. The left-arm spinner crippled the Afghan batting order in the next overs of his spell as he picked up both Darwish Rasooli and Karim Janat to put the chasing side in a precarious position with 4 wickets down within the power play.

Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi registered a 37-run partnership for the 5th wicket to hold the innings together for a while. But their struggle was brought to an end by Shakib who dismissed Nabi in the 11th over, pushing the Afghans on the back foot. The team could not recover from the setbacks as Shakib and Shoriful Islam bagged consecutive wickets in the middle overs to push the visitors down to their last legs.

Azmatullah Omarzai fought with the bat in death overs but Mustafizur Rahman put an end to the innings as the batter had to depart in the 17th over scoring 20 runs off 18 deliveries. Shoriful wrapped up the innings with two consecutive wickets in the 18th over wrapping up the Afghanistan side for a paltry score of 94 overs in 17.4 overs. Thereby, winning the contest by 61 runs to gain a 1-0 lead in the series.

Nasum was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ for his outstanding spell in the second innings as the youngster picked up 4 wickets in as many overs, conceding just 10 runs. Bangladesh will look to finish the series with a win over the visitors in their final match of the T20 series.

Brief Scores: 

Bangladesh - 155/8 (20.0)

Litton Das 60(44) Fazalhaq Farooqi 2/27 (4 overs)

Afghanistan- 94/10 (17.4) 

Najibullah Zadran 27(26), Nasum Ahmed 4/10 (4 overs)

Bangladesh won by 61 runs.