Litton scores 73 in wet finish to T20I series

Match abandoned Bangladesh 164 for 4 (Litton 73, Nurul 22*, Klein 3-53) vs Netherlands

Scott Edwards finally won the toss and wanted Netherlands' bowlers to, for once, bowl without dew around. But rain that fell as early as the fifth over ensured they had to contend with wet conditions anyway. They had bowled second in the first two T20Is of the three-match series and had lost both times.

Netherlands fared better on Wednesday and managed to rein Bangladesh in after the first rain stoppage. But rain returned about two hours later to have the final say.

Bangladesh posted 164 for 4 in 18.2 overs, in an innings replete with stoppages. Their captain Litton Das got off to a rapid start. There was a lull in the middle, before Jaker Ali and Nurul Hasan injected momentum at the death. Netherlands quick Kyle Klein travelled the distance, going for 53 in his four overs, but also picked up three wickets. None of that mattered in the end, and the no-result meant Bangladesh took the series 2-0, Netherlands' consolation coming from avoiding a clean sweep.

With the series already sealed, Bangladesh looked at the opportunity to rotate their players ahead of next week's Men's T20 Asia Cup. They rested both their openers, Pervez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan, among the five changes to their XI, and Litton walked out to open. He made his intentions clear with a clinical assault against Daniel Doram's left-arm spin in the third over. Litton launched a four over mid-off before ending the over with 4, 4, 6 - the second of them coming off an outside edge that evaded the keeper.

The first stoppage came during the next over, after Litton deposited Klein over deep midwicket. One of the floodlights at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium had malfunctioned, and play was suspended for 11 minutes. Once play resumed, Litton hit two more fours, one each off Klein and offspinner Aryan Dutt, before rain arrived. He was on 42 off 16 then but couldn't find his touch when play resumed 37 minutes later. When he was dismissed in the 15th over, he had scored only 31 off his last 30 balls.

One of the characteristics of Litton's 46-ball 73 was how well he held his shape while hitting big shots. Netherlands may have seen a lot less of this had Shariz Ahmad held on to a chance at deep midwicket in the fourth over when Litton was on 37. He was dropped again on 68 by Tim Pringle, but that did not cost Netherlands much.

The Shariz drop came in Klein's second over. It might have given him an inkling of how his evening would turn out. He bowled his heart out but struggled for consistency. Even with a dry ball, he slipped in a beamer in the fourth over of the game. By the end of that over, he had gone for 26 in two, and Bangladesh were 56 for 1.

But Netherlands managed to pull things back after the rain break.

Dutt and Pringle managed to extract purchase from the surface and kept even a set Litton in check. Towhid Hridoy's patience ran out after he had scored just nine off his first 13 balls, and he holed out to long-on in an attempt to charge at Pringle. In the first 35 balls after the rain interval, Netherlands gave away just 28 runs and picked up a wicket.

Bangladesh found the boundary in just four of the ten overs after their powerplay, and lost three wickets in that period. Then Nurul, playing his first T20I since the T20 World Cup of 2022, and Jaker joined forces to take 22 off the 18th over, bowled by Klein. They added 42 off just 23 balls before heavens opened again.