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Bangladesh’s fast-bowling spearhead Mustafizur Rahman once again proved why he is a world class death overs speciallist as he helped Bangladesh beat Ireland by just five runs to win ODI series by 2-0. The five-run victory is Bangladesh's sixth narrowest win by margin of runs.
In the run chase of 271, Ireland lost the wicket of their opener Stephen Deheny early to Mustafizur. He scored just four runs from 16 balls. Paul Stirling and skipper Andrew Balbirnie got the run chase back on track. They shared a 109-run partnership for the second wicket which was broken by Ebadot Hossain in the 27th over. Balbirnie scored 53 runs from 78 balls including six fours. In the 32nd over, Stirling got dismissed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The experienced campaigner scored 60 runs from 73 balls including four fours and two sixes.
Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker boosted the run chase as they scored at a near-100 strike rate. At one point, it looked like Ireland will chase the total down. But part-timer Najmul Hossain Shanto got the big wicket of Tector in his first over. Tector scored 45 runs from 48 balls including three fours and two sixes. In the next over, Mustafizur got Curtis Campher out for a single-digit score. In his next over, the left-arm pacer got rid of last ODI's half-centurion George Dockrell. The big wicket came in the 47th over when Tucker got out off a low full toss. Tucker scored 50 runs from 53 balls including four fours and one six. He finished with bowling figures of 44/4.
After the 47th over, Ireland needed 32 runs off 18 balls. Mark Adair infused life into the run chase with two fours and one six. A dropped catch did not help Bangladesh either. In the last over, Ireland needed 10 runs. Hasan Mahmud nullified the threat first ball with the wicket of Adair who contributed with a 10-ball 20 cameo. Andy McBrine got out in an attempt to play a big shot. Mahmud held on to his nerves and guided Bangladesh to a five-run victory in the end.
Earlier, Bangladesh got off to a scratchy start after Balbirnie decided to bowl first. Rony Talukdar struggled to score against new-ball bowlers whereas skipper Tamim Iqbal as he was dropped in slips by Balbirnie off Joshua Little’s bowling. Iqbal had scored just a single then. Adair in his second over got the wicket of Talukdar who scored just four runs from 14 deliveries. Iqbal and Shanto took advantage of fielding restrictions. Bangladesh were 62/1 after first powerplay overs.
Shanto's innings came to an end in the 11th over. Craig Young got his wicket. Shanto scored 35 runs from 32 balls including seven fours. Litton Das looked in good form and found boundaries. McBrine broke the third-wicket partnership. Das lost his wicket in the 24th over after scoring 35 runs from 39 balls. Iqbal ended his half-century drought in the 27th over. George Dockrell was introduced into the attack and Towhid Hridoy got bowled off the final ball of the over. Hridoy scored 13 runs from 16 balls. Iqbal failed to convert as well and lost his wicket to Dockrell in the 34th over. The opener scored 69 runs from 82 balls including six fours.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy did damage control with a 75-run partnership for the sixth wicket. In the 46th over, McBrine got him lbw. He reviewed but the decision was not reversed. Mushfiqur scored 45 runs from 54 balls including three fours and one six. In the next over, Adair got rid of Miraz as well. He scored 37 runs from 39 balls including three fours. Mahmud got run out trying to take the second run. In the penultimate over Adair struck twice as Bangladesh got bowled out for 274 with seven balls left in the innings.
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