Bowlers, Tanzid guide Bangladesh to series win

Tanzid Hasan Tamim took a record five catches and then scored an unbeaten half-century as Bangladesh raced to a series-winning eight-wicket victory against Ireland in the third and decisive T20I in Chattogram on Tuesday. 

Tanzid took five catches to equal the record of most catches in a T20I innings, thus far held by Wedage Malinda of Maldives and Sedik Sahak of Sweden as Bangladesh stemmed the early run flow of Ireland to skittle them for 117 in 19.5 overs after being asked to field first.

Tanzid then showed his prowess with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 55 of 36 deliveries as Bangladesh romped to the victory target in 13.4 overs with eight wickets in hand. Tanzid's fluent innings featured three sixes and four fours. Parvez Hossain Emon, who came in at No 4 after Saif Hassan (19) and Litton Das (7) fell cheaply, remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 deliveries.

The victory will come as some sort of relief for the Tigers, who had started their last series before the T20 World Cup with a defeat.    

Bangladesh players celebrate a Ireland dismissal. Photo: Rajib Raihan

Ireland innings:

Ireland made a flying start in the third T20I against Bangladesh in Chattogram on Tuesday but the hosts came back strongly to dismiss the visitors for117 in 19.5 overs. 

Left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman and leg-spinner Rishad Hossain led the charge with three wickets apiece as Ireland, who reached 51-2 after the Powerplay, lost the next eight wickets for 67 runs in 13.5 overs.

Mustafizur, who went wicketless in the last two matches, found the slow Chattogram deck to his liking, taking three for 11 runs in three overs while Rishad, back after being left out for the second match, took three wickets for 21 runs. 

Shoriful Islam took two wickets while Mohammad Saifuddin and Mahedi Hasan took a wicket apiece. Tanzid Hasan Tamim took five catches in the match -- a record in the shortest format he now shares with a player from Maldives and one from Sweden.

Veteran Paul Stirling smashed 38 off 27 deliveries. Only three other batters reached double figure. 

TOSS

Bangladesh were asked to bowl again by Ireland captain Paul Stirling in the third and decisive match of the three-match T20I series in Chattogram on Tuesday.

This is the first day-game of the series, with the two previous night outings won shared by the two sides. This will also be Bangladesh's last T20I match ahead of the T20 World Cup in February-March in India and Sri Lanka.  

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A decider with World Cup in sight

Bangladesh made three changes to their Playing XI. Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain replaced left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed; left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam replaced right-arm pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib while middle-order batter Shamim Patwary came in for wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan Sohan. 

Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling (capt), 2 Tim Tector, 3 Harry Tector, 4 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 5 Curtis Campher, 6 George Dockrell, 7 Gareth Delany, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Craig Young, 10 Matthew Humphreys, 11 Ben White

Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Parvez Hossain Emon, 3 Saif Hassan, 4 Litton Das (capt & wk), 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Mahedi Hasan, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Mohammad Saifuddin, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman