SYLHET: Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal breezed past Ireland’s dismal 101-run total in less than 14 overs for Bangladesh’s first-ever 10-wicket win, sealing a 2-0 series victory during the final ODI in Sylhet on Thursday.

Liton was unbeaten on 50 alongside Tamim with 41, both untroubled by an Irish bowling attack that served up 10 wides and a leg bye.

Pacer Hasan Mahmud claimed his maiden five-wicket ODI haul while conceding only 32 runs after the tourists elected to bat first.

Taskin Ahmed and Eba­dot Hossain also shone with the ball to claim 3-26 and 2-29 respectively, with Ireland recording the lowest ODI score against Bangladesh.

“The way we played the whole series was very nice. Now I can proudly say we have a solid, solid, solid fast-bowling department,” said skipper Tamim, according to Cricinfo.

“We need to keep believing in our players, there will be ups and downs but we have the unit to be the best in the world,” he said.

“The wicket was very good, the way we chased down with authority was a message.”

Curtis Campher top-sco­red with 36, while Lorcan Tucker made 28 after surviving a golden duck when Liton dropped his catch at slip.

“We’re very disappoin­ted. Don’t think the cricket over the past three days reflects the type of cricket we’ve played in the last 2-3 years,” said Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie.

“We did expect spin to play a big part, but our defence with the bat wasn’t good enough. We did not adapt well enough.”

Hasan struck in his opening spell to leave Ireland tottering at 22-3 in the ninth over.

Taskin then removed Balbirnie for six before Tucker turned up the aggression to hit Ebadot for three fours in one over.

Ebadot soon had his revenge, taking two wickets in two balls, and Taskin sealed Ireland’s collapse with a double strike in his seventh over.

Bangladesh won Satur­day’s opener by 183 runs, with Monday’s second match washed out by rain.

The drubbing was Bang­ladesh’s first 10-wicket win in any format, with the hosts smashing records in each match.

Saturday’s opener mar­ked their biggest ODI victory margin.

Then on Monday they recorded their highest ODI total with 349-6, Mushfiqur Rahim scoring the fastest ODI century by a Bang­ladeshi batsman by smashing his ton off 60 balls.

Ireland will also play three T20 Internationals and a Test during their visit.

SCOREBOARD

IRELAND:

S. Doheny c Mushfiqur b Hasan 8

P. Stirling lbw Hasan 7

A. Balbirnie c Najmul b Taskin 6

H. Tector lbw Hasan 0

L. Tucker lbw Ebadot 28

C. Campher c Taskin b Hasan 36

G. Dockrell b Ebadot 0

A. McBrine c Nasum b Taskin 1

M. Adair b Taskin 0

G. Hume lbw Hasan 3

M. Humphreys not out 4

EXTRAS (W-8) 8

TOTAL (all out, 28.1 overs) 101

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Doheny), 2-22 (Stirling), 3-22 (Tector), 4-26 (Balbirnie), 5-68 (Tucker), 6-68 (Dockrell), 7-79 (McBrine), 8-79 (Adair), 9-96 (Campher)

BOWLING: Hasan 8.1-1-32-5 (1w), Taskin 10-1-26-3 (1w), Ebadot 6-0-29-2 (2w), Nasum 3-0-11-0, Mehidy 1-0-3-0

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal not out 41

Liton Das not out 50

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-10) 11

TOTAL (for no wicket, 13.1 overs) 102

BOWLING: Adair 3-0-29-0 (3w), Hume 3-0-15-0, Humphreys 4-0-36-0 (1w), Campher 3.1-1-21-0 (2w)

RESULT: Bangladesh won by 10 wickets.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2023