Records galore in Bangladesh’s thumping win over Ireland
Tigers win the three-match series 2-0 with a game in hand
Bangladesh's Test and T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan and opener Liton Das reached individual milestones as the Tigers saw a number of records break in their thumping 77-run win over Ireland in the rain-affected second T20I at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today.
With this win, Bangladesh also win the three-match series 2-0 with a game in hand. This was Bangladesh's fifth win on the trot in the format -- adding to the Tigers' longest winning streak in T20Is. The 77-run victory is also Bangladesh's second-largest win in terms of margin by runs, coming after their 84-run win over Papua New Guinea in 2021 T20 World Cup. This is also the highest margin defeat endured by Ireland.
After Liton smashed the fastest fifty for a Bangladeshi to help the Tigers amass 202 for three in a 17-over game, Shakib bagged a fifer on way to reaching the summit of the T20I wicket-takers list to restrict Ireland to 125 for nine. This was also the second time in a row in the series and fifth overall that Bangladesh scored more than 200 runs in a T20I game.
It was an all-round performance from Shakib. After a rapid unbeaten 24-ball 38, laced with three boundaries and two maximums, the premier all-rounder turned the destroyer in chief with the ball in hand as he returned figures of five for 22 in four overs – his second-best bowling figures in T20Is after a five for 20 against West Indies in Mirpur in 2018.
This was also the fourth time that Shakib scored more than 20 runs and taken four wickets in a T20I – most by any player. India's Hardik Pandya comes next to Shakib in this regard as the Indian pace-bowling all-rounder scored 20-plus runs and taken four wickets in a T20I three times.
Shakib, who got two wickets in an over twice in the game, surpassed New Zealand's Tim Southee to move to the top of the list for most T20I wickets when he scalped the wicket of George Dockrell in the sixth over. Shakib now has 136 wickets in 114 matches. Southee, second in the list, has 134 wickets in 107 T20Is.
Liton was the hero for Bangladesh with the bat in hand as the batter scored an 18-ball fifty on way to his career-best T20I score of 41-ball 83. The elegant right-handed opener broke the record of Mohammad Ashraful, whose 20-ball fifty against West Indies in the 2007 T20 World Cup was the fastest fifty by a Bangladeshi before today.
In a carnage in Chattogram today, Liton smashed a total of 10 boundaries and three maximums during a relentless show of batting brilliance. He and Rony Talukdar also saw Bangladesh score the fastest team 100 – in just 43 legal deliveries – in T20Is, surpassing their previous fastest which was off 8.5 overs against Ireland in the last game.
Liton and Rony, who scored a 23-ball 44, also stitched together a 124-run opening stand – the highest opening stand for Bangladesh in T20Is. The previous best opening stand by Bangladesh was a 102-run stand between Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar against Zimbabwe in 2021 in Harare.