A brilliant spell from Taskin Ahmed (4 wickets) kept the visitors to a modest total before Litton Das’s explosive half-century and an all-round contribution from Saif Hassan sealed the game with ease. Taskin’s match-winning performance earned him the Player of the Match award.
Chasing 137, Litton led from the front with 54 runs, while Saif Hassan provided the finishing touch with a quickfire cameo of 36 off just 19 balls, including three sixes. Bangladesh reached the target with 39 balls to spare, going 1–0 up in the series.
The hosts got off to a strong start as Litton and Tanzid Hasan Tamim shared a fluent 66-run partnership for the second wicket. Tanzid scored 29 off 24 balls before falling to left-arm spinner Tim Pringle, caught at long-on by Max O’Dowd with the team score on 92.
After his partner’s dismissal, Litton carried on in style to complete his 50 off just 26 balls—his 13th T20I half-century.
With this milestone, Litton equalled Shakib Al Hasan’s record for the most T20I fifties by a Bangladeshi batter (13). Notably, Litton achieved the mark in 109 matches, while Shakib took 129. By the 11th over, Litton’s fifty had taken Bangladesh past 100, reaching 102/2.
Chasing a small target, Bangladesh came out aggressively. Parvez Hossain Emon set the tone with 14 runs in Aryan Dutt’s opening over, while Tanzid also attacked early. However, Emon was bowled by Aryan in the third over for 15 (off 9 balls), leaving Bangladesh 26/1.
From there, Litton took charge with positive strokeplay, ensuring Bangladesh maintained control in the powerplay, scoring 57 runs in the first six overs.
Earlier, Taskin fiery spell of 4 for 28 dismantled the Dutch batting order, restricting them to 136/8.
The Dutch innings began brightly with Max O’Dowd’s brisk 23 off 15, but Taskin removed him in the powerplay to open the gates. He returned to dismiss Vikramjit Singh cheaply, before striking twice in the death overs with the wickets of Noah Croes and Kyle Klein.
Taskin finished with an impressive 4 for 28 in 4 overs, providing regular breakthroughs at crucial stages.
Bangladesh’s support cast backed him well as Mustafizur Rahman was tight with 1/19, while Saif Hassan chipped in with 2/18 in the middle overs.
Despite late resistance from Tim Pringle (16 off 14) and Aryan Dutt (13* off 8), Netherlands struggled for momentum after a series of quick dismissals.
From 66/3 in the 10th over, the Dutch never really broke free, with Taskin’s strikes preventing a big finish.
