Bangladesh won the rain-hit first T20I comfortably by 22 runs against Ireland at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Monday to remain 1-0 up in the three-match series.
The rain threatened to postpone the Tigers’ party after the first innings but Bangladesh’s pacers went all gun blazing to seal a comfortable victory in the end.
Taskin recorded his best bowling figure in T20Is while Rony Talukdar bagged his maiden T20I half-century to seal the match.
Nasum Ahmed conceded 18 runs in the first over as Ireland were chasing 104 runs in eight overs as per DLS rules. Mustafizur Rahman then came in to bowl the second over and conceded 14 runs. Ireland were quick to reach 32 for no loss after the first two overs. Both the Irish openers – Paul Stirling and Ross Adair – were in the mood for hitting each and every ball they faced.
Hasan Mahmud came to the rescue as he drew the first blood by picking up Adair’s wicket in the third over. And he gave away only five runs.
Taskin Ahmed picked up three wickets in the fourth over to all but end the game in the Tigers’ favour. He sent Lorcan Tucker, Stirling, and Goerge Dockrell back to the hut and was on a hattrick in the final ball of the over. The seven-run fourth over didn’t help the visitors much.
The third and fourth overs eventually proved vital for the Tigers. Skipper Shakib too came in and bowl an economical sixth over.
Taskin picked up his fourth wicket in the final over. Ireland eventually managed to score 81/5 after eight overs and Bangladesh won by 22 runs (DLS method).
Taskin picked up four for only 16 runs and Hasan Mahmud picked up the other wicket giving away 20 runs.
Earlier, the rain stopped the play just before the end of Bangladesh’s innings as the hosts posted a mammoth 207/5 after 19.2 overs. They were just eight runs away from breaking their highest T20I total and had four legal deliveries to do that.
The rain took away almost two hours of the play and eventually forced to reduce Ireland’s innings to eight overs.
After being asked to bat first, the hosts made an aggressive start thanks to the opening duo of Litton Das and Rony Talukdar.
Litton began the run-fest with a maximum in the very first over of the innings. Rony Talukder then hit another maximum in the next over before Litton hit a boundary in the same over. The Tigers reached 25 in the first two overs.
There were boundaries and over boundaries in the next few overs. The opening duo actually hit at least a boundary in each of the first seven overs.
Bangladesh brought up 50 in the fifth over, 4.1 overs to be specific and this was the quickest 50 in T20Is in Chattogram. And they broke the record of their highest powerplay score (81/0) in T20Is. The previous best was 74/1 against Sri Lanka in 2018.
Litton was the first batter to be dismissed in the eighth over missing his 10th T20I half-century by just three runs. He hit four boundaries and three maximums in his 47-run knock of just 23 balls at a strike rate of more than 200.
But Rony didn’t miss his maiden T20I fifty. He struck two boundaries in the last two balls of the ninth over to bring up his maiden fifty in international cricket as Bangladesh reached 105/1. Rony took only 24 balls to reach the milestone. This was the third
After 10 overs, the hosts were 116 for the loss of one wicket. The three batters hit 10 boundaries and six maximums combined in that time.
Najmul Hossain Shanto was the second man to be dismissed after building a 27-run partnership with Rony. He managed to score 14 runs from 13 balls hitting just one six in his innings.
Shamim Hossain was a surprise introduction at number four, mostly due to the left-right combination. He soon joined the party hitting a boundary and a six in the 12th over.
Bangladesh’s 150 came up in the 14th over thanks to a Rony Talukdar boundary through the long-on region. Rony was dismissed in the same over after bagging 67 off 38 balls hitting seven boundaries and three maximums.
Shamim gave his wicket away after a quickfire 30 off 20 balls in the 17th over. The southpaw had a fine chance to make his innings longer in order to cement his place in the side but he gave his wicket away rather cheaply playing an imbalance shot. Hridoy was quiet at the other end scoring only three in three balls. Shakib came in at six and struck a boundary in the very first ball.
Shakib apparently tried each and every ball that he faced. Hridoy took Bangladesh over 200 in the 19th over as he hit his first maximum before getting dismissed in the very next ball. This is the first time a team has gone past 200 in an international match at this venue.
The was a light rain at the end part of the innings but it got heavier and forced the play to stop in the final over. For Ireland, Craig Young picked up a brace while Graham Hume, Mark Adair, and Harry Tector bagged one each.
