Nifty Nasum stars again

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed proved his effectiveness in the powerplay once again as he picked up four wickets in the first six overs to topple the Afghan top-order during Bangladesh’s 61-run win in the first Twenty20 International at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Nasum, the player of the match, ended with figures of 4-10, his career-best bowling figures, bowling 17 dots in his four overs. This was the second time he picked up four wickets as he had the same figures against New Zealand in September 2021.

After the match, Nasum said his primary goal was to keep the runs in check.

“I was given a target to concede no more than 12 runs in my first two overs inside the powerplay. This was the first time I was given a target by the team, and I ended up taking 4 wickets giving away only 10 runs,” the left-arm spinner said in the post-match presentation.

He added, “My sole target in the powerplay is to concede the minimum number of runs to give my team a good start.”

Nasum has been a consistent performer for Bangladesh in the powerplay of T20Is. Since January 2020, Nasum has taken 16 wickets in the powerplay, the most in the world among spinners.

Since his debut in T20Is, Nasum has 26 wickets for Bangladesh in 19 innings, with a strike rate of 14 and an economy of 6.36. He was a key part of Bangladesh beating Australia and New Zealand at home, and on Thursday, he was the wrecking ball for the Afghan top-order.

Nasum struck in the first over when Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the player of the match of the third One-Day International between the sides earlier in the tour, for a duck, and then dismissed Hazratullah Zazai in the first ball of his second over.

In the same over, he rattled Darwish Rasooli’s stumps, before getting rid of Karim Janat in his third.

Nasum’s opening spell broke the back of the Afghan batting lineup, meaning they had no chance of chasing down Bangladesh’s total of 155-8.

In the post-match press conference, Bangladesh batsman Liton Das was full of praise for Nasum.

“Nasum bowled a game-changing spell. If he didn’t bring the breakthroughs early on, it would be a completely different game. Nasum bowled brilliantly,” Liton said.

He added, “Nasum is different to other left-arm spinners. I have played him in the nets. He always tries something different, varies the pace, which is important in T20Is.”