Bangladesh cruise to easy win over Netherlands in series opener

Bangladesh began the T20I series against Netherlands with an eight-wicket win in the first match in Sylhet. They chased down a target of 137 with 6.3 overs to spare.

Taskin Ahmed starred with the ball, taking four wickets. Litton Das anchored the chase with a fluent half-century. Saif Hassan contributed with both bat and ball, taking two wickets and an unbeaten cameo to wrap the chase.

Netherlands made a brisk start through Max O'Dowd, who scored 23 runs. He was dismissed first ball by Taskin. Vikramjit Singh was also dismissed by Taskin, while skipper Scott Edwards was caught off Hassan's bowling. Teja Nidamanuru was removed by Saif Hassan in the same over as Edwards.

The middle order struggled against pace variations, with Shariz Ahmad top-edging a pull off Mustafizur Rahman and Kyle Klein holing out against Taskin. Taskin's fourth scalp was Noah Croes.

Lower-order runs from Aryan Dutt and Tim Pringle lifted the total as Netherlands finished on 136 for 8.

Bangladesh made their intentions clear from the outset. Parvez Hossain Emon launched Aryan for two boundaries and a six in the opening over. By the end of the PowerPlay the hosts were already well ahead at 57/1. Litton Das played with authority, driving and sweeping with control and raced to a half-century off 26 balls.

Hassan ensured a rapid finish, striking three sixes and a four in quick time to get Bangladesh over the line.

Brief scores:
Netherlands 136/8 in 20 overs (Teja Nidamanuru 26, Max O'Dowd 23; Taskin Ahmed 4/28, Mustafizur Rahman 1/19) lost to Bangladesh 138/2 in 13.3 overs (Litton Das 54*, Saif Hassan 36*, Parvez Hossain Emon 29) by 8 wickets.