KATHMANDU, – The Bangladesh U-23 men’s cricket team got their ongoing 13th South Asian Games (SA Games) cricket campaign off to a flying start as they crushed the Maldives by 109 runs in the South Asian Games T20 cricket held on Wednesday at Nepal’s Kirtipur.

Openers Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar gave Bangladesh a flying start after Bangladesh opted to bat first on the placid wicket.

Naim departed after hammering 38 off 28-ball when a 59-run opening stand with Soumya and then Nazmul Hossain Shanto came in to feature in another good partnership. Skipper Soumya blasted 46 off 33 featuring four boundaries and two over boundaries before he was the victim of Mohamed Mahfooz.

Afif Hossain hit with a cameo knock of 16 off 9 while Nazmul missed out half century scoring 49 off 38 before departing in the final over as
Bangladesh amassed a massive total of 174 for 4 from their allotted 20 overs. The Maldives suffered serious batting jolt as left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam scalped five wickets for 19 runs to leave Maldives five down for 45 runs in the chase.

Minhajul Abedin Afridi and Afif took two Maldives wickets each while Soumya bagged one as Maldives were cheaply dismissed at 65 runs in 19.2 over.

Tanvir Islam of Bangladesh was named the player of the match for his five- wicket haul. Bangladesh will play their second match against Bhutan on December 6, meet host Nepal on December 7 and will take on Sri Lanka on December 8.

The top two teams will play the final slated for December 10.

Bangladesh U-23 squad:

Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mohammed Saif Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Zakir Hasan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Syed Minhajul Abedin Afridi, Sumon Khan, Mahidul Islam Bhuiyan Ankon, Tanvir Islam, Manik Khan, Mehede Hasan Rana, Soumya Sarkar, Mahadi Hasan and Hasan Mahmud.