Liton’s brilliant form continues

Liton Das struck a brilliant fifty to power Bangladesh to 155-8 against Afghanistan in the first of the two-match T20 international series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday. 

Liton smacked a 60 off 44 balls, his fifth T20I fifty, while Afif Hossain chipped in with 25 off 24 balls. For Afghanistan, Azmatullah Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi each took two wickets while Rashid Khan and Qais Ahmed took one wicket each. Batting first after winning in the toss, Bangladesh lost their opening duo Mohammad Naim and debutant Munim Shahriar inside the power play for 2, 17 respectively that lessened them to 25-2. In the third wicket stand, Shakib Al Hasan and Liton formed 22 runs to curb the early damage but they couldn’t extend their inning further as the former gave a catch to Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 5 off the bowling of Qais Ahmed. In the next stand skipper Mahmudullah added 33 runs with Liton before he was trapped leg before for 10 by Azmatullah Omarzai. But Liton fought single-handedly adding 46 runs off 38 balls with Afif Hossain to amass a challenging total for the hosts.

Shakib reaches another milestone

Premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan completed 400 wickets in white-ball cricket during Bangladesh's first T20I against Afghanistan in Mirpur on Thursday. Shakib reached the milestone when he had Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi hole one out to the fielder at deep cover in the 11th over.  Shakib is the ninth cricketer to achieve the feat of scalping 400 or more wickets in limited-overs cricket. Former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan leads the chart, having picked up 547 wickets in 362 limited-overs matches. However, Shakib is the first left-arm spinner to achieve the feat.  Shakib, meanwhile, scalped another wicket -- that of Najibullah Zadran -- in the game as Afghanistan lost six for just 65 in 13 overs. 

SBNCS back to its original colors after 721 days

Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur got its old look back after the Bangladesh Cricket Board allowed full admission of spectators in the stands. The galleries at the home of cricket were almost full and buzzing with spectators after a break of 721 days as hosts Bangladesh faced visitors Afghanistan in the first match of the two-T20I series Thursday. The BCB last allowed full general entrance to the supporters in Zimbabwe’s tour of Bangladesh in March 2020. The game returned to the field through domestic competition by the end of 2020. However, it was very recently that a limited number of spectators were allowed into the stadium to watch the game. Despite the game being held on a weekday, the cricket fanatics in the capital city did not miss the opportunity to come and support their beloved Bangladesh national team. On the day, the elated supporters were seen queuing up at different gates of the SBNCS hours before the gates were opened for entry. There were vendors all around selling flags and jerseys and artists busy painting the face of the supporters in Bangladesh colors. Mahmud, a hawker selling counterfeit Bangladesh jerseys at Tk100 each had come to the stadium with 100 pieces of his product in a box.