Bangladesh beat Ireland by 77 runs in the second T20 Wednesday in Chattogram to win the series with one match to spare. Put in to bat first, the Tigers Bangladesh scored 202 for three after the match was reduced to 17 overs per side due to rain. Litton Das and Rony Talukdar scored 124 runs in just 9.2 overs in the first wicket stand. Litton smashed 10 fours and three sixes to score 83 off 41 balls before falling to Ben White in the 12th over. The wicketkeeper-batter Litton hit fifty off 18 balls, the fastest fifty by a Bangladeshi in T20s. He broke the 20-ball fifty record of Mohammad Ashraful in 2007. Talukdar, too, played a free-flowing knock of 44 off 23 balls before being caught by Mark Adair off Ben White. After that, skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy continued to pile on the runs. Shakib struck three fours and three sixes in his unbeaten knock of 38 off 24 balls. For Ireland, White was the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets for 28 runs in his four overs. Adair also managed to pick up a wicket but conceded 52 runs in his four overs. Read more: Shakib becomes leading wicket-taker in T20s Chasing 203, Ireland failed to offer any resistance against Bangladesh's quality attack. The in-form Taskin Ahmed picked up the wicket of Ireland captain Paul Stirling off the first ball of the innings. After Taskin's first wicket, Shakib bagged five wickets in his first three overs and returned the figures of five for 22 in four overs. With this, he became the highest wicket-taker in T20s, surpassing New Zealand's Tim Southee. Shakib now has 136 wickets in the format in 114 matches while Southee has 134 in 107 matches. After Shakib's bowling spell, Taskin took two more wickets and took three for 27 in four overs. Curtis Campher hit an unbeaten fifty off 30 balls for Ireland. Both teams will now compete in the solitary Test in Dhaka, starting on April 4.  

Bangladesh won the first of the two-match T20I series against hosts UAE by seven runs Sunday night in Dubai. Put in to bat first, the Tigers scored 158-5. Chasing 159, UAE batted well but fell short of seven runs. Chirag Suri scored 39 off 24 balls and kept the UAE's hopes alive. Aayan Afzal Khan scored 25 off 17 balls. Shoriful Islam bagged three wickets, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz also picked up as many wickets. Earlier, Afif Hossain smashed an unbeaten 77 off 58 balls to guide Bangladesh to 158-5 against the hosts. The Tigers lost three wickets in the powerplay.

Captain Rohit Sharma struck 46 not out off 20 balls to power India to a six-wicket win over Australia and level their T20 series Friday. Sharma's blitz led India to 92-4 after Australia scored 90-5. The second T20 was reduced to eight overs a side after a wet outfield delayed the start for 2 1/2 hours. Bowlers were limited to two overs each. Sharma struck four fours and another four sixes as India chased down Australia's total with four balls to spare. Chasing 91 off 48 balls in a power shootout, Sharma and Lokesh Rahul, who scored 10, put on 39 runs off 17 balls for the first wicket. India collapsed to 55-3 in the space of 10 deliveries. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa struck a triple blow to send back Rahul, Virat Kohli (11) and Suryakumar Yadav (0) in quick succession and take 3-16. Sharma was in ominous touch, though. He powered through with a 22-run partnership off 14 balls with Hardik Pandya (9) as India edged closer to the total. Dinesh Karthik then smashed 10 runs off two balls and the series was level with one match left. Read: IND vs AUS 2022: 6 key statistics to know before the T20I series Put in to bat, Matthew Wade was the star of the Australia innings with 43 not out off 20 balls. Aaron Finch's 31 off 15 launched the visitors even as Cameron Green (5) was run out cheaply. Spinner Axar Patel dismissed Glenn Maxwell (0) and Tim David (2) at a cost of only 13 runs, and Jasprit Bumrah returned to international cricket by castling Finch with a near-perfect yorker. Australia were down to 46-4 in five overs when Wade took over. He smacked four fours and three sixes to give them a challenging total. The third and last T20 is on Sunday in Hyderabad, where 20 people were injured on Thursday in a stampede for tickets.

Harry Brook and Ben Duckett bludgeoned maiden T20 half-centuries as England bounced back to beat Pakistan by 63 runs Friday. Brook smashed 81 off 35 balls and left-hander Duckett made 70 off 42 deliveries as England racked up 221-3 after losing the toss. Pakistan's top order crumbled against fast bowlers Mark Wood and Reece Topley and finished on 158-8 a day after chasing down 199. "We were ruthless tonight, especially in batting," England skipper Moeen Ali said. "Brooky hopefully grows and becomes one of the top players. Wood bowled at serious pace, great to have him back. He's a massive part of our team." Wood picked up 3-24 with pace that saw him touching 156 kph (97 mph) and Reece took 1-22 in their first game of the series as England brought them in for David Willey and Luke Wood. England lead the series 2-1 with four more games to go. Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan could not repeat their Thursday night heroics when they led Pakistan to a 10-wicket win with a brilliant double-century stand. Both batters scored 8 runs each before Wood had Babar caught at third man in the third over and Topley clean-bowled Rizwan with a brilliant slower ball. Pakistan slipped to 28-4 within the first six overs of the batting powerplay when Haider Ali was brilliantly snapped up by Adil Rashid at backward square leg and Sam Curran undid Iftikhar Ahmed with a short-pitched delivery. "When you lose your four top batters within the first six overs, you always struggle," Babar said. "Our bowling was also not up to the mark, but we will try not to repeat the mistakes in the next games." Read: England to play 3 Test matches in Pakistan in December Left-hander Shan Masood, who made his T20 debut in the first game, top-scored with an unbeaten 65 off 40 balls but Pakistan always lagged well behind once they lost Babar and Rizwan and in the face of Wood's fast deliveries. Earlier, Brook smashed the Pakistan pacers in the latter half of the innings while Duckett was excellent against the spinners. Brook punished Shahnawaz Dahani (0-62) with boundaries galore in the death overs as the fast bowler returned Pakistan's second most expensive figures in a T20. Brook blistered eight fours and five sixes.  "It was very nice to get out there and have a match-winning performance," Brook said. "I was Just hitting through the line of the ball ... and was just trying to get (Duckett) on strike – he's so good against spin, it's ridiculous." Leg-spinner Usman Qadir picked up the wickets of debutant Will Jacks (40) and Dawid Malan (14) in his first two overs before ending with 2-48. Jacks, who hit a century for Surrey in the Hundred, filled the shoes of the rested Alex Hales in his debut T20 by racking up eight boundaries on both sides of the pitch. He holed out in the deep against Qadir's googly. Brook and Duckett then combined in a breezy 139-run stand off just 66 balls in England's highest score of the series.

Glenn Phillips struck a half century from 33 balls to propel New Zealand to a 90-run win over the West Indies in the second Twenty20 international on Friday, clinching the three-match series with a 2-0 lead. After reaching his fifth T20 half century, Phillips went on to 76 from 40 balls and led New Zealand to 215-5 as it batted after winning the toss, exceeding the 185-5 that was a winning total in the first match of the series. His innings included six sixes and four fours. The West Indies managed only 125-9 in reply, lacking the partnerships that underpinned a New Zealand total which was the highest by a visiting team against the West Indies in a T20 in the Caribbean. Phillips put on 71 for the third wicket with Devon Conway who made 42 from 34 balls and 83 with Daryl Mitchell who made 48 from 20. The West Indies’ best were stands of 35 for the seventh wicket between Romario Shepherd and Rovman Powell which began when the home team was 40-6 and the match probably was already lost. Hayden Walsh (10) and Obed McCoy (23) put on 38 in an unbroken stand for the last wicket. Phillips put to good use his knowledge of conditions at Sabina Park, which is his home ground in the Caribbean Premier League. “Coming back to Sabina Park is amazing. I’ve got great memories here,” Phillips said in a television interview. “Being able to get a 50 for my country over here in front of a crowd which I really love is definitely very special for me. “Credit to the West Indies for the way they bowled up front with the new ball which was really, really good in terms of taking the pace off the ball when it was new and harder. As it got older the pitch became a bit nicer to bat on.” Seven West Indies wickets fell to spin bowlers, including the first four of the innings. Read: West Indies Suffer Innings Defeat; New Zealand Win Series Against England Mitchell Santner, who was Man of the Match for his 3-19 in the first match, took a wicket with his first ball and two wickets in his opening over to set back the West Indies’ run chase. Off spinner Michael Bracewell, who replaced fast bowler Lockie Ferguson in the New Zealand lineup, also took a wicket with his first delivery, dismissing captain Nicholas Pooran (1) as the West Indies slumped to 12-3 at the start of the fourth over. Santner and Bracewell both finished with 3-15 while Ish Sodhi took 1-36. Tim Southee took the only wicket which fell to a fast bowler, removing Odean Smith at the tail and returning 1-34. Shimron Hetmeyer was the first batsman not to fall to a spin bowler, run out by a direct hit at the bowlers end by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. The West Indies were 28-5 at that point and couldn’t recover. “We just didn’t show up today,” Pooran said. “They batted us out of it and we couldn’t see our way with the bat. We had to stay in the game. It just didn’t start well for us. We are struggling but the more cricket we play our performance will grow.” The final T20 will be played on Sunday at the same venue, followed by three one-day internationals.

Bangladesh confined Zimbabwe to 135-8 in 20 overs at the Harare Sports Club Sunday as off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain took his first five-wicket haul in the T20Is. Zimbabwe won the toss in the second T20I and chose to bat first. Off the very first ball, Mosaddek trapped Regis Chakabva for a duck. Captain Nurul Hasan Sohan took an easy catch behind the wicket. After Chakabva, Mosaddek also removed Craig Ervine, Wesley Madhevere, Sean Williams and Milton Shumba. All of them failed to reach double digits.  Mosaddek took five wickets for 20 runs – his best bowling figures in the format. And along the way, he became only the fourth Bangladeshi bowler to take five or more wickets in T20Is.  Read: Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe: T20 series begins Saturday However, Sikandar Raza stood firm like a rock. Before falling to Mustafizur Rahman, Raza scored 62 runs off 53 balls. And Ryan Burl was the second-highest run scorer for the hosts (32).   Bangladesh needs to win this match to bounce back in the series. The hosts won the first match by 17 runs and lead the series 1-0. The third and final match of the series will be played on August 2 at the same venue.

Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first in the second T20I against Bangladesh on Sunday at Harare. Riding on outstanding batting performance, Zimbabwe won the first match on Saturday. A second win will confirm the series for them. Both Sikandar Raza and Wesley Madhevere have hit a fifty each in the first match. Bangladeshi bowlers failed to contain runs against them. Bangladesh need to bounce back in today's match to stay in the race of winning the series. The last match of the series will be played on August 2 at the same venue. Read: Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe: T20 series begins Saturday Bangladesh included Hasan Mahmud in this match replacing Taskin Ahmed. Bangladesh playing XI: Munim Shahriar, Litton Das, Anamul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan(w/c), Mosaddek Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Mahedi Hasan Zimbabwe playing XI: Regis Chakabva(w), Craig Ervine(c), Wesley Madhevere, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Milton Shumba, Luke Jongwe, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Tanaka Chivanga

The three-match T20I series between visitors Bangladesh and hosts Zimbabwe is set to begin Saturday. The first match will take place at 5pm at the Harare Sports Club. Wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan Sohan will lead Bangladesh in this series. He replaced Mahmudullah Riyad as the T20I captain of the Tigers for this tour. If Sohan does better as a captain, he has all the chances to lead the Tigers in the shorter format of the game for a longer period. However, Bangladesh will miss the services of Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Riyad in this series. While Shakib is out for personal reasons, Mushfiqur and Riyad were rested by the team management. Shakib will also miss the ODI series, but Mushfiq and Riyad will take part in it. Bangladesh included uncapped left-handed batter Parvez Hossain Emon in this tour. Parvez did well in the Bangladesh Premier League. Also, he was an important member of Bangladesh during their ICC U-19 World Cup triumph in 2020. Read: ZIM vs BAN 2022: T20I series fixtures, H2H record, 1st match preview Pacer Hasan Mahmud has also been added to the team. The second and third T20Is will be played on July 31 and August 2. All the matches will take place at the same venue. After the T20I series, both the teams will lock horns in a three-match ODI series starting on August 5. The last two ODIs will be played on August 7 and 10. Bangladesh T20I squad Nurul Hasan (captain and wicketkeeper), Munim Shahriar, Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Afif Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Mosaddek Hossain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and Parvez Hossain Emon  

Jalal Yunus, chairman of the cricket operation of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), said the Bangladesh team will participate in a tri-nation T20 series in New Zealand ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year.  Along with Bangladesh and New Zealand, Pakistan may take part in this tri-nation series, Jalal added.  Also read:Mushfiqur, Liton grind Sri Lanka after Tamim’s ton Ahead of this series, Bangladesh will have a practice camp in Adelaide, Australia where they are expected to play against a Big Bash side, though, it’s not confirmed which team Bangladesh will get as their opponent.  “We’ll play around 16 T20I matches ahead of the World Cup,” Jalal told the media. “Since we are going to play many T20Is, we don’t need to have a camp (in Dhaka) ahead of the World Cup.” Also read:Nayeem shines with 6 wickets to deprive Mathews of double ton Bangladesh are scheduled to play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is in West Indies, and in Zimbabwe, they will play three T20Is.  Currently, Bangladesh are busy playing a two-match Test at home against Sri Lanka.

After winning the three-match ODI series 2-1, Bangladesh are eyeing also to grab the two-match T20 series against Afghanistan starting on Thursday in Dhaka.  While the first match will be played on Thursday, the second and final match will take place on Saturday at the same venue. Read:BAN vs AFG T20I Series 2022: Bangladesh Seek Resurgence in Twenty20 Format Before this series, Bangladesh took on Afghanistan in six matches and won only two.  Last year, Bangladesh played 27 T20Is and lost 11 of them. These stats prove that Bangladesh are yet to find their zeal in this format despite playing it on a regular basis.  “We’ll try to play T20 cricket with a positive attitude and mentality. The batters need to play fearlessly, and bowlers will also have to show some aggressive approach. Our only focus is to play well,” Mahmudullah told the media on Wednesday.  In the recent World Cup that took place in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh failed to do well. They had managed to pass the initial round, but failed to win any match in the next phase of the event.  With another World Cup on sight, the Bangladesh captain said they are not looking too far now. Instead, their focus is more on the current series.  Bangladesh might include Munim Shahriar in the playing XI, who drew the attention of many in the just-concluded season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) with his ability of clean hitting.  Read:BAN vs AFG T20I Series 2022: Players to Watch “Munim has a good chance to play tomorrow (Thursday). But I cannot confirm it now. We’ll plan on match-day morning about the batting order,” Mahmudullah said, mentioning that Mohammad Naim also has a good chance to start the innings despite his lean performance in the BPL.  Munim scored more than 170 runs in the BPL with a strike rate exceeding 150. In contrast, Naim had been out of the form in most parts of BPL while representing Minister Group Dhaka which was led by Mahmudullah. Bangladesh also included Yasir Ali in the T20 squad. The right-handed batter got his ODI cap in the ODI series against the same opponent but failed to prove his mettle on two occasions the batted.  Bangladesh are currently number nine in the T20 team ranking while Afghanistan are at eight. Bangladesh will have a good chance to surpass the Afghans if they can win this series 2-0. Bangladesh are going to miss the service of Tamim Iqbal who did well in the BPL. The left-handed batter went for a break of six months from this format.  Mahmudullah called his team to play T20 cricket in an aggressive manner. He also said that the batters of the top-order need to come up with some explosive batting to have a good start to the match.