Bangladesh secured their biggest ODI victory on Saturday as they beat Ireland by 183 runs in the first of the three-match one-day international series at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Their previous biggest victory was at the same ground, against Zimbabwe by 169 runs in March 2020.
Chasing 339 win, Ireland had a pretty good start with the bat. Their opening duo of Stephen Doheny and Paul Stirling added 60 runs in 11 overs.
Shakib Al Hasan drew the first blood by picking up Doheny in the 12th over and the floodgates opened. They lost half of their side before they reached 80 and there was no further competition in the match.
The visitors were eventually bundled out for 155 in 30.5 overs.
Ebadot Hossain was the star bowler for Bangladesh picking up his career-best of 4-42 in this format while Nasum Ahmed picked up 3-43 and Taskin Ahmed bagged 2-15.
Earlier, Bangladesh posted a mammoth 338 runs on the board. They didn't have a great start with the bat after being asked to bat first.
The Tigers lost captain Tamim Iqbal early in the third over. Liton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto threw away their starts.
But Shakib and Towhid built a 135-run stand for the fourth wicket. They took their time and then started to accelerate.
Shakib reached his fifty in 65 balls, and then added 43 more runs in just 23 deliveries including a five-boundary 35th over.
He will be disappointed to miss his 10th ODI hundred just by seven runs. It would've been his first ODI hundred after that historic 124-run innings against West Indies in the 2019 World Cup.
Towhid reached his fifty in 55 balls and then added 42 more runs in 30 balls.
He struck eight boundaries and two maximums in his innings. He was visibly frustrated as he should have missed the chance to become the first-ever Bangladeshi to score an ODI hundred on debut just by eight runs.
Mushfiqur Rahmim then came in and played a 44-run innings from 26 balls. He and Towhid built an 80-run partnership which was very crucial for Tigers to go beyond 300.
The Tigers lost their way a bit towards the end but still recorded their highest total in Sylhet.
For Ireland, Graham Hume was the pick of the bowlers, taking a four-for. Adair, McBrine and Campher picked up a wicket each.
