Nasum, Litton headline Bangladesh's comprehensive victory over Afghanistan in 1st T20I

Litton Das' sublime knock and Nasum Ahmed's sensational spell up front headlined Bangladesh's 61-run win against Afghanistan in the first T20I of the two-match series in Mirpur and went 1-0 up in the series. It was Bangladesh's third T20I win against the visitors. 

Litton played some beautiful orthodox cricket strokes in his 44-ball-60 and steered Bangladesh to 155. Later they defended it thanks to a scintillating bowling performance by the bowlers. Nasum was named the player of the match for his four-wicket haul.

Electing to bat first, Bangladesh once again failed to make good use of the field restrictions of the first six overs. Mohammad Naim retained his spot in the XI despite a poor BPL season. But the southpaw had no answers to Fazalhaq Farooqi's full and straight delivery. He was at first given not out but Afghanistan took a review and Naim (2 off 5) was adjudged leg-before.

Debutant opener Munim Shahriar struck three boundaries - one off Farooqi and two off Mujeeb Ur Rahman - but was trapped in front by Rashid Khan while trying to sweep in his first over. Munim scored a run-a-ball 17. Bangladesh were 37 for two after six. 

Shakib Al Hasan, in at four, did not have a great time with the bat too and was dismissed by Qais Ahmed in the 8th over. Litton Das played some delightful strokes coming in at three. He and captain Mahmudullah took 17 from the 10th over that took the score to 71 for three at halfway point. 

But the skipper's innings was short-lived as he was pinned leg-before by debutant Azmatullah Omarzai in the 11th over. 

Litton notched up his fifth T20I fifty off just 34 deliveries in the 14th over. At the 16-over mark, they were 114 for four with two well-set batters - Litton and Afif Hossain - in the middle.

Litton tried to accelerate and in the process lost his wicket to Farooqi in the 17th over. He top-scored for Bangladesh with a sublime 60 off 44 balls. Afif (25 off 24) soon followed him. The partnership between them yielded 46 off 6.2 overs.

Rashid Khan contributed to two run-outs but the hosts took 28 off the remaining 2.4 overs after Afif's dismissal. The last five overs yielded 45 runs. Farooqi and Omarzai took a couple of wickets each.

Defending 155, Bangladesh were on fire as Nasum Ahmed picked up the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over. He broke the backbone of the Afghanistan batting line-up by scalping three more batters - Hazratullah Zazai, Darwish Rasooli and Karim Janat - in quick succession and his bowling figures in the powerplay read 3-0-7-4. He became the second spinner in T20Is to pick up four wickets or more inside the powerplay. 

Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi stitched a 38-run partnership after the early loss of wickets but their recovery was halted by Shakib Al Hasan. The all-rounder dismissed Nabi in the 11th over and it was his 400th scalp in limited overs cricket.

Shakib got rid of another set batter in Najibullah in his next over, leaving Afghanistan reeling at 62 for six. 

The partnership between Nabi and Najibullah was the only substantial one in the innings. Their hopes soon faded as the required run rate kept on increasing and wickets fell on regular intervals. They were bundled out for 94 in 17.4 overs.

Nasum finished with his joint-best figures in this format - four for 10. Shoriful Islam picked up three wickets while Shakib took two.