‘New Bangladesh’ took down England in the first T20I in Chattogram, gunning down the 157-run chase in impressive fashion. The new-look side, which had one player returning after eight years, one after two years, and a debutant, beat the world champions by six wickets with two overs in hand. It is very rare to see such a performance in T20Is from Bangladesh.
After Hasan Mahmud led with stingy death overs — England scored only 21 runs in the last four overs — the batters did what they are expected to do in a T20 chase: bat with purpose. But this was missing for so long in the Bangladeshi batting approach. Litton Das and Rony Talukdar, the player returning to the side after eight years, struck early boundaries before Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy kept up the pressure with a fast partnership.
Shanto made his third fifty in his last four innings, before falling for 51. Captain Shakib Al Hasan and Afif Hossain then scored the remaining runs, an unbroken 46-run stand in 5.4 overs to complete the chase. Shakib remained unbeaten at 34, clattering six fours in his 24-ball stay. Afif made 15 with two fours, one of them a classic cover drive. But it was not all plain sailing for Bangladesh. England got off to a great start, reaching 80 in the first ten overs.
England fired off 51 for no loss in the power play. Phil Salt struck five boundaries, including a six, in his 35-ball 38, but it was Buttler who was more punishing. He brought out all his T20 specials, including the splayed-leg hoick over long-on and the slightly more open cover drive. Buttler also got his boundaries with the reverse sweep and the back-foot punch, underlining his authority and quality as a T20 star. He finished with eight boundaries, half of them sixes, in his 42-ball stay.
Both Buttler and Salt were dropped in the sixth over. First, Nasum Ahmed dropped a return chance off Salt on 20, before Shakib dropped a sitter at mid-on with Buttler on 19. Salt, though, wasn›t too happy with his dismissal when UltraEdge picked up an underedge in the tenth over. Dawid Malan fell shortly afterward when he holed out in the deep off Shakib.
Buttler was still going great guns, adding 47 runs with Ben Duckett for the third wicket. But when Mustafizur Rahman removed the left-handed Duckett for 20 off 13 balls, England still had four overs in hand to put up a big total. Instead, Hasan bowled two mean overs at the death to bring Bangladesh back into
the contest.
