Bangladesh’s High Performance team made a strong start to the Top End T20 series, beating Nepal by 9 wickets in their opening match. Mohammad Rubel’s spin bowling and Zisan Alam’s explosive batting helped the Tigers cruise to victory.
Winning the toss at Marrara Oval in Australia, Bangladesh HP chose to bowl first. With the bat, none of Nepal’s batters made much headway apart from Kushal Bhurtel. Of the other five batters — Trit Raj Das, captain Anil Sah, Pawan Sarraf, Kushal Malla and Lokesh Bam — none reached double figures. Anil and Pawan departed without scoring at all.
With the top and middle order failing, Nepal found themselves in trouble at 13 for 5. Bhurtel then tried to mount some resistance alongside Sadab Alam for the sixth wicket. After the pair added 32 runs, Sadab was out for 11, caught off Samiun Basir. Narayan Joshi was run out in the same over.
After slipping to 46 for 7, Bhurtel continued trying to build a respectable total alongside Rizan Dhakal. After adding 29 runs, Bhurtel departed, caught by Irfan Shukkur off Rubel. He made 46 off 40 balls, with three fours and a six. Rizan was run out for 10.
Nepal, saving their last wicket, set Bangladesh a target of 100. Bipin Khatri finished unbeaten on 11, and Akash Chand on 5. Rubel took four wickets for 18 runs for Bangladesh. Basir, Rohanat Doullah Barshon and Ripon Mondol picked up one wicket each.
In reply, Bangladesh reached the target with ease. Zisan batted aggressively from the start. Habibur Rahman Sohan departed for 7 in the third over, caught off Sadab. Zisan then guided the side to victory alongside Ariful Islam, with 58 balls to spare. He finished on an unbeaten 52 off 29 balls, striking three fours and four sixes at a strike rate of nearly 180. Ariful finished unbeaten on 34.
Bangladesh HP’s next match is against Hobart Hurricanes Academy tomorrow.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report