Bangladesh delivered a dominant performance in Sylhet on Saturday, thrashing the Netherlands by 8 wickets in the opening T20I of the three-match series. With this win, Bangladesh now lead the series 1-0, and the victory also marks their biggest T20 home win in the last decade.
Batting first, the Netherlands could only manage 136 runs in 20 overs for the loss of 8 wickets. In reply, Bangladesh chased down the target with 39 balls to spare. This made it their largest T20 home win (by balls remaining) in 10 years—the previous being a victory against Afghanistan in the 2014 T20 World Cup, when they won with 48 balls to spare.
Bangladesh lost their first wicket early in the third over, when Parvez Hossain departed for 15 off 9 balls. But from there, skipper Liton Das and Tanzid Hasan steadied the chase with a 66-run partnership for the second wicket. Tanzid fell after scoring 29 off 24 deliveries, but Bangladesh never looked in trouble.
Liton Das led from the front with a brilliant unbeaten 54 off 29 balls, smashing 6 fours and 2 sixes. Saif Hassan also chipped in with a quickfire 36* off 19 balls, sealing the game in style.
Earlier, the Netherlands’ batting struggled to gain momentum. Max O’Dowd top-scored with 23, while Teja Nidamanuru scored 26 off 26 balls. Captain Scott Edwards could only manage 12, while Vikramjit Singh fell cheaply for 4. The rest of the batting lineup failed to convert starts, with Shariz Ahmed (15), Kyle (9), Noah (11) and Tim (16) contributing small runs.
For Bangladesh, Taskin Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets. Saif Hassan bagged 2, while Mustafizur Rahman chipped in with 1.
With such a powerful start, Bangladesh will now look to wrap up the series when the two teams face off again in the 2nd T20.
