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Bangladesh have taken a 1-0 lead against T20 specialists Afghanistan with a massive win at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. Chasing a challenging total of 156, Afghanistan batting lineup crumbled after losing early wickets to left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed in powerplay overs and failed to make a comeback. In the first of the two-T20I series, only three Afghanistan batters scored in double digits as the visitors registered their fifth-lowest T20I totals.
Liton helps Bangladesh recover
Earlier, after winning the toss, Mahmudullah won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts did not get off to a good start as they lost openers Mohammad Naim and Munim Shahriar in the powerplay overs. Wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das anchored the innings after early blwos and scored 60 runs off 44 deliveries including four fours and a couple of sixes.
On the other end, wickets kept falling. Skipper Mahmudullah too got out for 10 after hitting just one six. Afif Hossain provided some support to Das but got out in the 18th over as Bangladesh failed to finish with a flourish. For visitors, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai picked up a couple of wickets each whereas Rashid Khan and Qais Ahmed bagged one wicket each.
Nasum magic
Chasing a stiff total, especially on a pitch where teams like New Zealand and Australia struggled, Afghanistan had a horrible star. Left-arm spinner Nasum picked up the wicket of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz off the fourth delivery of the run chase. In the next over, he got the wicket of Hazratullah Zazai and Darwish Rasooli to break the back of Afghanistan run chase. Mahmudullah gave Nasum another over in the powerplay overs which worked in Bangladesh's favour as he got rid of Karim Janat as well.
From 20/4 in the fifth over, Bangladesh could not recover. Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi tried to get a partnership going but could not keep up with the required run rate. Both Zadran (27) and Nabi (16) lost their wickets to another left-arm spinner, Shakib Al Hasan.
Rashid Khan had a troubled stay at the crease and could score only a single off seven deliveries before losing his wicket to Shoriful Islam. Omarzai tried to provide some entertainment towards the end but could only score 20 runs off 18 deliveries including two fours and one six. Towards the end of the innings, Shoriful mopped up the tail quickly by getting the wickets of spinners Ahmad and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
