Shamim rescues Bangladesh after early batting meltdown

Bangladesh finally stopped breaking records in the powerplay with the magical opening duo of Litton Das and Rony Talukdar. They rather had a poor start with the bat just like the 'old days', losing four wickets in the batting powerplay. 

Bangladesh lost wickets of Litton, Nahmul Hossain Shanto, and Rony respectively in each of the second, third, and fourth overs. And one thing was common in each of their dismissals - getting caught at the boundary line trying to hit big. Shakib Al Hasan was caught at midwicket, he too was trying to hit a boundary. Sure, the positive intent was there. 

Litton was the first man to go caught at deep point for five after hitting a boundary in the very first ball of the match. Shanto failed to live up to the expectations as he got an opportunity to play a valuable innings. He bagged only four runs from eight balls. 

Rony hit a few boundaries in his outing but couldn't last long. He scored 14 off 10 balls at a strike rate of 140. 

Shakib and Hridoy came next and they too departed early. And Bangladesh were reduced to 41/5 after 6.3 overs. 

Debutant Rishad Hossain came in to bat at seven. He hit a maximum in the third delivery that he faced announcing he can hit big. 

Bangladesh reached their fifty in the eighth over going at a run rate of just over six.

Rishad soon departed as he tried to slog for another six, to another debutant Matthew Humphreys in his first delivery in T20I cricket. Humphreys picked another wicket in his first over, sending Taskin Ahmed back to the pavilion. 

At that stage, Bangladesh were 61 for seven and were in fear of getting bundled out for their lowest total in T20I cricket (70/10 against New Zealand in 2016). But Shamim stayed on, and played a few hits to take Bangladesh well past their lowest total.

The innings-highest 33-run stand fot the eighth wicket came to an end with Nasum Ahmed's departure. The left-arm spinner accompanied Shamim well and played a 13-run knock.

Bangladesh reached 100 runs in the 16th over. 

Shamim brought up his maiden T20I fifty in the 19th over. He was the final batter to be dismissed for 51 off 42 balls hitting five boundaries and two maximums. 

Bangladesh were eventually bundled out for 124 after 19.2 overs. For Ireland, Mark Adair picked up three wickets for 25 runs. Debutant Humphreys bagged a brace while each of Ireland's five other bowlers picked up a wicket each.