The Tigers were eyeing their first-ever back-to-back series sweeps on Friday. Coach Chandika Hathurasingha would become Bangladesh’s first coach to bag 50 wins had the team clinched a win in the final T20I. But Ireland had something else in their mind. They ruined the Tigers’ parade and sealed a consolation victory of seven wickets which is also their first victory against Bangladesh in Bangladesh.
Friday was the first time Ireland lost the toss in their whole Bangladesh trip so far, and this brought a change in their fortune as well. Bangladeshi batters had a bad day at the office and the visitors made full use of it thanks to a blistering knock by their skipper Paul Stirling.
Ireland lost Ross Adair early in their chase of 125 runs. But they were steady. Their skipper hit boundaries regularly and kept the scoreboard going. Bangladesh bowlers hardly made the Irish batters look uncomfortable in the chase.
The visitors lost two wickets in the batting powerplay. Both Adair and Tucker went for less than 10 runs. But that never really hurt them. There was hardly any scoreboard pressure and the wicket was pretty good for the batters.
Stirling was the main aggressor throughout the chase. The Irish skipper scored the majority of runs in all three partnerships that he was involved in. He hit 10 boundaries and four maximums in his match-winning 77-run knock before becoming legspinner Rishad Hossain’s maiden dismissal in international cricket in the 12th over.
The harm was already done. Ireland was just 16 runs away from the victory having 47 balls in hand.
Curtis Campher finished it off with a maximum to guide his team home for a consolation victory keeping 36 balls in hand.
For Bangladesh, the trio of Taskin, Shoriful, and Rishad picked up a wicket each.
Earlier, Bangladesh managed to score only 124 runs in their first innings thanks to Shamim Hossain’s maiden T20I fifty.
Bangladesh finally stopped breaking records in the powerplay with the magical opening duo of Litton Das and Rony Talukdar. They rather had a poor start with the bat just like the ‘old days’, losing four wickets in the batting powerplay.
Bangladesh lost wickets of Litton, Nahmul Hossain Shanto, and Rony respectively in each of the second, third, and fourth overs. And one thing was common in each of their dismissals – getting caught at the boundary line trying to hit big. Shakib Al Hasan was caught at midwicket, he too was trying to hit a boundary. Sure, the positive intent was there.
Litton was the first man to go caught at deep point for five after hitting a boundary in the very first ball of the match. Shanto failed to live up to the expectations as he got an opportunity to play a valuable innings. He bagged only four runs from eight balls.
Rony hit a few boundaries in his outing but couldn’t last long. He scored 14 off 10 balls at a strike rate of 140.
Shakib and Hridoy came next and they too departed early. And Bangladesh were reduced to 41/5 after 6.3 overs.
Debutant Rishad Hossain came in to bat at seven. He hit a maximum in the third delivery that he faced announcing he can hit big.
Bangladesh reached their fifty in the eighth over going at a run rate of just over six.
Rishad soon departed as he tried to slog for another six, to another debutant Matthew Humphreys in his first delivery in T20I cricket. Humphreys picked another wicket in his first over, sending Taskin Ahmed back to the pavilion.
At that stage, Bangladesh were 61 for seven and were in fear of getting bundled out for their lowest total in T20I cricket (70/10 against New Zealand in 2016). But Shamim stayed on and played a few hits to take Bangladesh well past their lowest total.
The innings-highest 33-run stand for the eighth wicket came to an end with Nasum Ahmed’s departure. The left-arm spinner accompanied Shamim well and played a 13-run knock.
Bangladesh reached 100 runs in the 16th over.
Shamim brought up his maiden T20I fifty in the 19th over. He was the final batter to be dismissed for 51 off 42 balls hitting five boundaries and two maximums.
Bangladesh were eventually bundled out for 124 after 19.2 overs. For Ireland, Mark Adair picked up three wickets for 25 runs. Debutant Humphreys bagged a brace while each of Ireland’s five other bowlers picked up a wicket each.
