Liton, Nasum guide Bangladesh to easy win against Afghanistan

Nasum Ahmed grabbed four early wickets after Liton Das smashed a fine 60 to guide Bangladesh to an easy 61-run victory against Afghanistan in the first T20I on Thursday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

In a full-packed stadium, at least 24,000 spectators cheered the Tigers in their thumping win demolishing the Afghans with 14 balls in hand.

Bangladesh posted 155-8 in 20 overs bating first after winning the toss. In reply, Afghanistan tumbled for 94 all out in 17.4 overs, UNB reports.

Najibullah Zadran was the best batter for Afghanistan scoring 27 off 26 balls. But his effort was not enough for the tourists to chase a challenging target of 156 runs.

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nasum bagged four wickets conceding only 10 runs in four overs.

He struck in the very first over of the innings removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck. In his previous innings, in the third ODI prior to the T20 series, Gurbaz had a ton in Chattogram. But he failed to have a good start to the T20 series.

Afghanistan suffered an early setback when Gurbaz sliced an easy catch at the point area to Yasir Ali.

In the third over, Nasum removed Hazratullah Zazai and Darwish Rasooli in a span of three balls. While Zazai sent a catch to the mid-off, Rasooli missed the ball completely while going for a slog sweep.

Afghanistan continued to slip to Nasum. In the fifth over, Nasum removed Karim Janat, and with that, Nasum bagged all four wickets that Afghanistan lost at that stage of the match.

After Nasum, it was Shoriful Islam who contributed towards Afghanistan’s defeat. The left-arm seamer bagged three wickets conceding 29 runs in 3.4 overs.

Shakib Al Hasan chipped in with two wickets, while Mustafizur Rahman got one.