Shakib Al Hasan took five wickets and Litton Das hit a fast half-century as Bangladesh beat Ireland by 77 runs in the second T20 to seal the three-match series 2-0 at Chittagong on Wednesday. Litton hit a career-best 83 off 41 balls and Rony Talukdar made 44 off 23 as the two openers led Bangladesh to 202-3 in 17 overs with less rain. Shakib then claimed 5-22 to limit Ireland to 125-9 and become the leading international wicket taker in T20s, overtaking New Zealander Tim Southee’s 134 wickets. Curtis Campher top-scored for Ireland with 50, but it came much too late.
The visitors were never in the game after Taskin Ahmed, who finished 3-27, claimed a wicket on the first ball of the innings. Shakib then reduced Ireland to 43 for 6.
Litton and Rony shared 124 runs in their opening stands, Bangladesh’s best start in a T20, after Irish captain Paul Stirling won the toss and elected to bowl.
Litton, who hit 10 fours and three sixes, reached his fifty off 18 balls, the fastest T20 fifty for Bangladesh. He topped Mohammad Ashraful’s 20-ball half century against the West Indies in 2007.
Leg spinner Ben White gave Ireland their first break when he forced Rony to throw a flyout to Mark Adair for a long time.
White, the only Irish bowler to cause problems for Bangladesh, also dismissed Litton in his next over before finishing 2–28.
However, Shakib (38 not out) and Towhid Hridoy (24) scored 61 runs for the fourth wicket to help Bangladesh to a big total.
“That was a tough day, no doubt about that… There were probably some of the same mistakes from the previous weeks. So a lot to work on,” said Stirling.
Bangladesh won Monday’s opening game by 22 runs. The third game is scheduled for Friday at the same location.
The home team also won the previous one-day international three-game series 2-0.
Bangladesh “is a strong team wherever they play in the world,” said Stirling.
“We knew[the tour]was going to be tough. We probably didn’t think it would be as one-sided as it has been,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article