Chittagong, Bangladesh, March 27 (AFP\/APP): Taskin Ahmed claimed three wickets in an over as Bangladesh kept their cool to beat Ireland by 22 runs in a rain-affected first Twenty20 international in Chittagong on Monday.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh posted 207-5 in 19.2 overs before rain ended their innings, halting the game for more than an hour and forcing match officials to set Ireland a revised target of 104 runs in eight overs.<\/p>\n
Ireland finished with 81-5 despite making a flying start to their run chase with 18 runs in the first over.<\/p>\n
Taskin forced the visitors to slow down with his three-wicket burst in the fourth over before claiming another wicket in the final over to finish with 4-16, his career-best figures in T20Is.<\/p>\n
Gareth Delany top-scored for Ireland and was unbeaten on 21.<\/p>\n
“(The pitch) looked tricky at some points, but got flatter and flatter. Disappointing to still come out on the wrong side,” said Ireland’s stand-in captain Paul Stirling.<\/p>\n
Rony Talukdar struck a career-best 67 from 38 balls to power Bangladesh to a strong total after Stirling won the toss and elected to bowl.<\/p>\n
Rony put on 91 runs in just seven overs in an opening stand with Liton Das, who made 47 off 23 balls.<\/p>\n
Craig Young broke the stand when he forced Liton to hole out to Stirling at mid-off, and Harry Tector soon had Najmul Hossain stumped for 14.<\/p>\n
Ireland were hoping to put the brakes on Bangladesh’s scoring spree once Graham Hume bowled Rony, who smacked seven fours and three sixes in his maiden T20I fifty.<\/p>\n
However, Shamim Hossain’s 20-ball 30 and Shakib Al Hasan’s 20 not out off 13 balls helped Bangladesh race past the 200-run mark before rain brought a premature end.<\/p>\n
Right-arm pacer Young claimed 2-45 for Ireland.<\/p>\n
The game was Bangladesh’s first T20I at home against Ireland, who have rested regular skipper Andrew Balbirnie for the three-match series.<\/p>\n
The second match is scheduled at the same ground on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh won the preceding three-match one-day international series 2-0. The teams will meet for a one-off Test in early April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chittagong, Bangladesh, March 27 (AFP\/APP): Taskin Ahmed claimed three wickets in an over as Bangladesh kept their cool to beat Ireland by 22 runs in a rain-affected first Twenty20 international in Chittagong on Monday. Bangladesh posted 207-5 in 19.2 overs before rain ended their innings, […]<\/p>\n
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