Najmul Hossain hit 51 off 30 balls as Bangladesh held their nerve to beat world champions England by six wickets in the first Twenty20 international in Chittagong on Thursday.
Najmul’s third T20I fifty guided Bangla-desh to 158-4 in 18 overs after the hosts held Eng-land to 156-6, despite skipper Jos Buttler making 67 off 42 balls.
Buttler put on 80 runs with Phil Salt in their opening partnership after the hosts put England in to bat first.
But England crumbled after Buttler’s fourth-wicket dismissal and managed just 21 runs in the last five overs. Pace bowler Hasan Mahmud, who forced Buttler to give a catch at long-on in the 16th over, finished with 2-26.
Bangladesh got off to a positive start as Rony Talukdar (21) and Liton Das (12) put on 33 in the opening stand.
Adil Rashid bowled Talukdar to break the stand and Jofra Archer soon removed Liton. But Najmul and debutant Towhid Hridoy added 65 runs for the third wicket to put Bangladesh in control.—APP
