Tigers gnaw Irish to seal ODI opener

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh scored their highest ever ODI total and hammered Ireland by record 183 runs in the first ODI at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, on Saturday.

It was a show from Shakib al Hasan and debutant Towhid Hridoy in the first half of the match and then Ebadot Hossain four-for seal the deal for home side.

The visitors were bowled out for 155 in 30.5 overs after Bangladesh posted their highest-ever total in their preferred format 338 for eight after 50 overs

Following a cautious start by the visitors, chasing Tigers's highest total of 338, Irish openers up until the 11th over, it was Shakib who draw the first blood.

However, a ferocious run of pace bowling by Ebadot Hossain and Taskin Ahmed completely destroyed the Ireland top and middle order.

Ebdaot and Taskin were too hot to handle for veteran players like Paul Stirling and captain Andy Balbirnie, respectively. Bangladesh quicks consistently got the ball to talk with pace, swing, and bounce.

The 12th over saw the loss of five wickets in the space of six overs, with Lorcan Tucker the wicket-keeper batter made Taskin's second victim by giving a simple catch to Yasir Ali at first slip off.

Curtis Campher and George Dockrell attempted to consolidate for a while after Ireland's deep batting lineup was exposed early on, but the 33-run stand was broken when Nasum Ahmed trapped Campher in LBW.

Andy McBrine was caught behind for a golden duck and lost the next ball. Three overs later, Mark Adair was removed by Ebadot, and Mushfiqur took his fifth catch of the game and second in his ODI career.

Ebadot finished the game with his fourth wicket, that of George Dockrell, who top scored with 45 off 47 with six fours.

With the exception of Mustafizur Rahman, all of the bowlers from Bangladesh were successful. Nasum Ahmed had three wickets, while Taskin grabbed two.

Earlier, Shakib and Hridoy both narrowly missed centuries but Bangladesh still hammered Ireland's attack to power Bangladesh set a record target.

Bangladesh registered their highest ODI total, before that the Tigers had scored 333 against Australia in the 2019 World Cup.

Batting first, Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal (3) returned early getting caught at slip off Mark Adair, they lost another opener Litton Das (26) within the first powerplay. 

Najmul Hossain Shanto then joined hands with Shakib but could not hold the ground for long as he was dismissed on 25. Following that, Hridoy came to bat on No.4 and piled up a record partnership with Shakib.

Both the batters were dismissed in nervous ninety as Shakib fell short of seven runs but reached the milestone of 7000 ODI runs and Towhid missed the ton for eight.

Shakib, who was away from his sixth ODI ton scored 93 off 89 deliveries with nine boundaries and Towhid played an 85-ball 92 knock featuring eight 4's and two 6's.

Mushfiqur Rahim played a blistering inning of 44 in 26 balls, having struck three 4's and an equal number of 6's. Yasir Ali Rabbi scored 17 on his return to ODI format. 

Graham Hume bagged four wickets as Bangladesh finished on 338-8 after 50 overs.