Bangladesh vs Ireland: Rony Talukdar, Taskin Ahmed star as BAN win 1st T20 by D/L method

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Bangladesh took a 1-0 lead in the T20 series after winning the ODI series 2-0 as Taskin Ahmed took a 4/16 to halt Ireland at 81/5 while chasing a revised target of 104 runs after rain-affected the first T20I in Chittagong on Monday. Rony Talukdar shone with the bat as he scored 38-ball 67 to help Bangladesh post 207/5 in 19.2 overs before rain interrupted play.

Chasing the revised target, Ireland were off to a flying start with 18 runs in the first over but Taskin slowed them down with three wickets an over before achieving his career-best figures. Gareth Delay scored an unbeaten 21 in the losing side's best batting display.

"(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.

Batting first, Rony provided a strong start to Bangladesh as he had an opening stand of 91 runs with Liton Das (47 runs off 23 balls). The partnership was ended by Craig Young in the eight over while Harry Tector then removed Najmul Hossain for just 14 as Bangladesh went 118/2 by the 11th over.

Shamim Hossain (30) and Shakib Al-Hassan (20) did the heavy scoring in the slog overs to help Bangladesh go past 200 while Rony shot seven fours and three sixes for his maiden T20I half-century. Towhid Hridoy (13) and Mehidy Hasan (8) also contributed some runs down the order.

Among Ireland bowlers, Young finished with a 2/45 spell while Graham Hume, Mark Adair, and Tector take a wicket each. Their batters, Paul Stirling (17) and Ross Adair (13) started off with much-needed fireworks before Taskin removed Stirling, Lorcan Tucker, and George Dockrell in the fourth over. The spell took Ireland 40/1 to 40/4 after Hasan Mahmud removed Ross in the third over.

The game was Bangladesh's first T20I at home against Ireland, who have rested regular skipper Andrew Balbirnie for the three-match series. The second match is scheduled at the same ground on Wednesday. Bangladesh won the preceding three-match one-day international series 2-0. The teams will meet for a one-off Test in early April.