17 overs a sideShakib Al Hasan had Litton Das for company as Bangladesh dominated Ireland by 77 runs to clinch the T20I series in Chattogram. They led the way in the hosts’ all-round show that provided them their second-biggest win in the format (by runs). Shakib made a quickfire 38 and then took a five-wicket haul while Litton’s 83 and three catches as wicketkeeper made equal impact. Shakib’s second T20I five-for also took him past Tim Southee to become the highest wicket-taker in the format.Openers Litton and Rony Talukdar added 124 runs in 9.2 overs of the rain-shortened match. Litton cracked 83 off 41 balls before Shakib’s show.Ireland looked incomplete in all three departments, hardly stringing together a few good overs. There was a dropped catch, a few crucial misfields and then the batting fell apart in the face of Shakib’s brilliance. Earlier, rain just at the stroke of the start of play had threatened to ruin chances of the game.The first drops of rain on Wednesday afternoon fell ten minutes after the toss. The downpour stopped after 40 minutes, when the umpires declared a 3:15pm start but minutes later, a drizzle began. The 17-overs a side match finally started at 3:40pm, a full 100 minutes after the scheduled start. But it hardly deterred or unnerved the Bangladesh openers who took off from where they left off in the first T20I.
Litton, Rony blast record-breaking start
The fastest team fifty. The fastest individual fifty. The fastest team hundred. The biggest opening stand for the team. Litton and Rony did it all, as they smacked Ireland around the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in a memorable opening stand.It was 9.2 overs of pure entertainment. The pair hit 13 fours and five sixes, breaking several team records, as the Ireland bowlers and fielders were ordinary. Bangladesh raced to 50 in 3.3 overs after Rony and Litton took big overs off Mark Adair and Graham Hume. It was the first time a Bangladesh opening pair had three successive fifty-plus stands.Litton was dropped in the fourth over on 16, with George Dockrell unable to hold on to his bullet of a pull shot. The same over went for 17 runs, before Fionn Hand went for 19 runs in the following over, his first one on tour. Next over, Litton reached his half-century, beating Mohammad Ashraful’s 20-ball fifty from 2007. Bangladesh raced to their 100 in 7.1 overs, only the second century opening stand for the team. When Ben White removed Rony in the tenth over, his 44 came off 23 balls with three fours and two sixes in the arc between long-on and midwicket.Litton struck his three sixes over point, long-off and square-leg. Seven of his ten fours came behind square on either side of the wicket, but the most significant number was the eight dot balls he played in his 41-ball stay. It is the lowest by a Bangladeshi batter in a 75-plus knock. Litton’s innings however ended tamely when he edged legspinner White in the twelfth over, following a mild lull in the run-rate.Litton Das reached his fifty in 18 balls•AFP/Getty Images
Shakib, Hridoy pound the Irish
But that lull didn’t last for too long. As soon as Shakib slammed Harry Tector for a four and a six in the 13th over, Bangladesh’s run-rate soared again. They also reached their fastest 150 team total in T20Is. Soon afterwards, Hridoy backhanded Hume for his first six over long-on. Shakib deposited Adair’s poor slower ball over square-leg.The pair struck a couple of more blows to take the total close to 200 before Hridoy got out. It was a quick 61-run third wicket stand, helping Bangladesh to consecutive 200-plus totals in the series.
Shakib five-for sinks Ireland
Bangladesh started the Ireland chase with a wicket first ball. Taskin Ahmed removed the dangerous Paul Stirling as Litton held a fine catch diving to his right. It is the second time Taskin took a wicket off the first ball of a T20I innings. From the second over onwards though, it was the Shakib show. With his first ball, Lorcan Tucker mildly swept him to Rony at square-leg, falling for six.In his second over, Shakib zoomed in his arm-ball into Adair’s pads, deflecting on to his leg-stump. Last ball of the over, Delany was caught behind for six. He took two more wickets in the sixth over after which Tector missed a swipe on 22 to become Shakib’s fifth scalp.He became the first cricketer to take a five-for and score 30-plus runs in a T20I twice in his career. Shakib’s five-for is also the fourth time a bowler took five wickets in the first six overs of a T20I innings, emulating Lasith Malinga, Fred Klaassen and Oshane Thomas.
Campher’s spark not enough
Ireland were sinking after Shakib had reduced them to 43 for 6. But there was some life left in Curtis Campher who did the rest of the scoring mostly on his own. He struck three sixes and as many fours in his 29-ball 50, before Taskin cleaned up his stumps in the 15th. Campher had just earlier reached his fifty with two sixes off Taskin with two ramps. Ireland needed a few more innings of that quality on the night, which they lacked, and went down by 77.
