Sylhet (Bangladesh), Aug 30 Bangladesh produced a comprehensive all-round performance to defeat the Netherlands by eight wickets with 39 balls to spare in the first T20I at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Taskin Ahmed, Saif Hassan, and captain Litton Das starred as the hosts dominated in all three departments.
Batting first, the Netherlands managed 136/8 in their 20 overs, with Taskin leading the charge. After a bright start from Max O’Dowd, who drove and flicked Shoriful Islam for three fours in the second over and launched Mahedi Hasan for a six in the third, Taskin struck with his first ball, getting O’Dowd to spoon a leading edge to cover.
The Netherlands scored just nine runs off the remaining 2.5 overs of the Power-play, with their only other boundary coming from Teja Nidamanuru, who edged the ball past a leaping cover fielder.
Taskin struck again with the first ball of his second over, dismissing Vikramjit Singh for an ambitious attempt down the ground. Nidamanuru tried to counterattack with a six and a four off Taskin, adding 27 runs off 11 balls, but Saif Hassan broke the momentum with his maiden T20I wicket, dismissing Netherlands captain Scott Edwards with a superb catch by Jaker Ali at long leg. Two balls later, Saif had Nidamanuru holing out to deep midwicket.
Mustafizur Rahman struck shortly after, removing Shariz Ahmad, and Taskin completed his four-wicket haul as the Netherlands added just 52 runs off their last eight overs.
Chasing 137, Bangladesh got off to a flying start with Parvez Hossain Emon hitting two fours and a six off Aryan Dutt in the first three balls. Tanzid Hasan also began with a boundary, but Dutt slowed the scoring in the next over. Captain Litton Das anchored the chase, scoring 54 not out off 29 balls, bringing up his 13th T20I half-century in the 11th over.
Saif Hassan (36 not out off 19) provided fireworks at the end, lofting Tim Pringle over long-on and finishing with back-to-back sixes off Vikramjit in the 14th over to seal the win. Litton contributed 10 runs* to an unbroken 46-run third-wicket stand with Saif, boosting his teammate’s T20I strike rate from 81.25 to 106.02.
Brief scores:
Netherlands 136/8 in 20 overs (Teja Nidamanuru 28, Max O'Dowd 23; Taskin Ahmed 4-28, Saif Hassan 2-18) lost to Bangladesh 138/2 in 13.3 overs(Litton Das 54 not out, Saif Hassan 36 not out) by eight wickets
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