Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das take a single. Photo: Firoz Ahmed
Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal got a decent start but could not capitalise on it as he departed early during the Tigers’ first ODI against Afghanistan at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today.
Tamim, who said yesterday that he is ‘not at a hundred per cent’ due to a recurring back issue that saw him miss the lone Test against the Afghans last month, could only manage 13 off 21 deliveries.
The southpaw, however, had gotten off the mark with a beautiful cover drive off pacer Mohammad Saleem, who made his ODI debut today.
Both Tamim and Liton Das remained cautious against Afghanistan’s strike bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi, who has been able to get some movement off the surface that has some grass covering.
Farooqi beat the outside edges of both Tamim and Liton in the opening spell and gave away only two runs in his first two overs, with one of those maiden.
Tamim looked to be getting into the groove when he punished Farooqi for some extra width with a well-timed boundary through point. However, Tamim fell in that same over to Farooqi when his attempt to guide the ball through deep third only ended up getting an edge behind to the keeper.
The Bangladesh openers found it difficult to time the ball, with Liton riding the luck when he top-edged a pull shot off Saleem delivery but fortunately, the ball landed safely in the outfield, fetching the batter two runs.
Following Tamim’s dismissal, in-form batter Najmul Hossain Shanto got off to a quick start, smashing two back-to-back boundaries to welcome pacer Azmatullah Omarzai into the attack as Bangladesh moved to 48 for one after 10 overs.
