Taskin, Rony propel Tigers to win in rain-curtailed T20 contest against Ireland

Ireland started their curtailed chase well but a fine spell by Taskin lifts the Tigers to the win

Bangladesh have secured a convincing win in a rain-shortened T20 encounter riding on some resolute batting from Rony Talukdar and Litton Das before Taskin Ahmed took 4 wickets to snuff out the Ireland charge.

Asked to bat first, the hosts made 207-5 in 19.2 overs before rain swept in, forcing the Duckworth-Lewis method to come into play at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Monday.

With the target reduced to 104 needed off 8 overs, Ireland began their chase well but a furious spell from Taskin (4-16) halted their foray.

Requiring 13 runs per over for victory, Paul Stirling (17) and Ross Adair (13) blasted off with 32 off Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman in the first two overs, essentially the powerplay in the curtailed chase, to provide impetus.

Hasan Mahmud, the player of the match from the third ODI in Sylhet, then pulled things back in the following over with the wicket of Adair.

Shakib Al Hasan then introduced Taskin into the attack and the speedster landed a triple-wicket over, which included the scalp of dangerman Stirling, to put Irish hopes to the sword.

Harry Tector (19) and Gareth Delany pressed on with three boundaries in the following over off Mahmud (1-20) to bring the equation down to 44 needed off 18 balls.

But Shakib then brought himself on and restricted the batters to five runs in the following over.

Mustafizur’s last over left the visitors needing 32 runs off Taskin’s final over. The seamer snared Tector’s wicket to halt Ireland’s innings at 81 for 5.

Earlier, the Tigers stormed to a daunting 207 for 5 in 19.2 overs thanks to some aggressive strokeplay before the rain swept in.

Openers Litton (47) and Rony (67) set the tone of the innings by racing to 91 in 7 overs after recording their highest score, 81, in the powerplay.

The pair rode some luck early on, but gradually found the middle of the bat to take advantage of some wayward Irish bowling.

Stirling, standing in as Ireland captain to replace Andrew Balbirnie, kept changing his field setup to accommodate the bowling.

Litton’s 23-ball knock was laced with 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. After Craig Young took out Litton, Shanto (14) looked in good touch, but Tector cut his innings short as well.

Rony then took over. He punished any width offered by the bowlers and struck 7 fours and 3 sixes in 38 balls.

He stitched 36 runs with Shamim Hossain (30) to push Bangladesh to 150 before both of them were dismissed in quick succession.

Shakib (20 not out) made his intentions clear by drilling Adair straight down the ground and followed it up with two more boundaries in the following overs.

A six from Towhid Hridoy (13) took the hosts past the 200-run mark in the penultimate over. After Hridoy holed out to the outfield, the drizzle got heavier to force a decision from the umpires to suspend play.