CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh’s Najmul Hossain Shanto scored a half-century before all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan got the hosts over the line for a six-wicket win against T20 world champions England in Chattogram on Thursday to kick off their three-match series.

Put in to bat, England looked to be in control when openers Jos Buttler (67) and Phil Salt stitched together an 80-run partnership, but Buttler received little support after Salt was dismissed on 38 and the visitors were restricted to 156-6.

“Bangladesh finished the innings really well. We were in a position to really kick on and launch at the end, but we couldn’t manage to get away,” said Buttler. “We were probably 20 short with our score and we had to chase a little bit in the field.”

Hasan Mahmud was the pick of the bowlers for Bangla­desh as he took two wickets, while four of his teammates claimed a wicket apiece.

After a brief opening stand between Litton Das and Rony Talukdar, Shanto (51) combined with debutant Towhid Hridoy for 65 runs to give Bangladesh some momentum, but the pair were then dismissed in consecutive overs as the chase looked in danger of being derailed.

Shakib, who was the hero in Bangladesh’s One-day International win over England earlier this week, came to their rescue once again, scoring 34 off 24 in a calm knock under pressure to secure his side’s first-ever T20I win over England.

“The way we approached the game was fantastic, under the pump in the first ten overs but no one panicked. Stuck to the plans,” Shakib said.

“In T20, when you don’t think too much you tend to play well. Hopefully, we can keep this in the dressing room. This is a great start for the World Cup in 2024 in West Indies.”

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND:

P. Salt c Liton Das b Nasum 38

J. Buttler c Najmul b Hasan 67

D. Malan c Najmul b Shakib 4

B. Duckett b Mustafizur 20

M. Ali not out 8

S. Curran c Najmul b Hasan 6

C. Woakes b Taskin 1

C. Jordan not out 5

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, W-3) 7

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 156

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-80 (Salt), 2-88 (Malan), 3-135 (Duckett), 4-135 (Buttler), 5-146 (Curran), 6-147 (Woakes)

DID NOT BAT: A. Rashid, J. Archer, M. Wood

BOWLING: Nasum 4-0-31-1, Taskin 4-0-35-1, Mustafizur 4-0-34-1 (3w), Shakib 4-0-26-1, Hasan 4-0-26-2

BANGLADESH:

Liton Das c Woakes b Archer 12

Rony Talukdar b Rashid 21

Najmul Hossain b Wood 51

Towhid Hridoy c Curran b Ali 24

Shakib Al Hasan not out 34

Afif Hossain not out 15

EXTRAS (W-1) 1

TOTAL (for four wickets, 18 overs) 158

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-33 (Talukdar), 2-43 (Liton), 3-108 (Towhid), 4-112 (Najmul)

DID NOT BAT: S. Hossain, T. Ahmed, N. Ahmed, H. Mahmud, M. Rahman

BOWLING: Curran 2-0-18-0, Woakes 2-0-21-0, Archer 3-0-27-1 (1w), Rashid 3-0-25-1, Wood 2-0-24-1, Ali 4-0-27-1, Jordan 2-0-16-0

RESULT: Bangladesh won by six wickets.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2023