Tigers back to winning ways crushing Afghans

Bangladesh are back on the winning track after suffering eight straight defeats in Twenty20 Internationals as they defeated Afghanistan by 61 runs in the first T20I of the two-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Bangladesh’s last T20I win came against Papua New Guinea in the preliminary stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Since then, the Tigers lost all five matches in the Super 12 stage, and the three-match home series against Pakistan 3-0.

Afghanistan are always regarded as a strong unit in the shorter format, especially for their bowling unit comprising Rashid Khan, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and Mohammad Nabi. But their batting did not really compliment after the bowlers restricted Bangladesh for 155-8 in 20 overs.

Mahmudullah won the toss and elected to bat first. Mushfiqur Rahim missed out on the first T20I of the series due to a contusion in his right thumb.

Bangladesh also handed T20I caps to Munim Shahriar and Yasir Ali Chowdhury in this match, who became the 74th and 75th cricketer for Bangladesh in T20I.

Munim and Mohammad Naim started the innings for Bangladesh. Naim could not come out from his bad patch which he had been facing throughout the Bangladesh Premier League as he was out for only two runs in the third over.

Liton came in as the number three and continued his good run which he showed during the One Day Internationals series. He played a fine knock of 60 runs from 44 balls,

Afif Hossain contributed 25 runs from 24 balls, while debutant Munim made 17 runs in 18 balls.

Chasing 156, Afghans lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the very first over when he was caught at cover-point by Yasir Ali while Nasum Ahmed was the bowler.

The left-arm spinner wrecked through the Afghan top-order as he removed the top three batsmen of Afghanistan, giving Bangladesh a flying start.

Afghanistan picked only four specialist batsmen in their XI and a bunch of all-rounders and bowlers to fill in the remaining places. But they were sent packing for only 20 runs within the powerplay, snatching the game away from them. Mohammad Nabi (16) and Azmatullah Omarzai (20) tried to revive the run chase, but the left-arm spinners strangled them as the asking run rate was going upwards.

Bangladesh picked four left-arm bowlers in the XI, and the trick worked as they all managed to strike. Nasum picked his career-best 4-10, which matched his previous best against New Zealand on the same ground.

Shoriful Islam got three wickets, Shakib got two, and Mahedi Hasan grabbed one to fold Afghanistan for 94 runs in 17.4 overs. The second match of the series will take place on Saturday at the same venue.