Litton Das sped to 54 at the end of the sixth over on Wednesday. Bangladesh were on 83 for no loss, two runs more than what they made at this stage of the first game on Monday. The Ireland bowlers was already looking ragged. Rony Talukdar, Litton's opening partner, though was yet to make his mark on this partnership.
At the start of the seventh over, he went down on his knees to hit legspinner Gareth Delany for a six over long-on, followed by another over midwicket. The Delany over went for 16 runs, before Litton completed the century partnership with a reverse sweep, off the first ball of the eighth over.
The unlikely batting pair, which only came together couple of weeks ago during the T20I series against England, was attacking from both ends. This is really, genuinely unique. It is not something the Bangladesh fans are used to seeing from their T20I openers. For those who have followed the number of opening pairs. Bangladesh have tried - in the last 12 months - and know very well the frustration attached to the search.
The selectors' faith on Mohammad Naim or the hope carried by Parvez Hossain Emon and Munim Shahriar, have all ended up as disappointments. Even Mehidy Hasan Miraz was tried a few times as an opener. As with everything else in his career, Mehidy tried his best but an opening spot was never going to be Mehidy's permanent role. So the search continued. Soumya Sarkar's career was resurrected during the T20 World Cup last year, but that plan, too, fell through.
Litton and Rony added 124 runs in the second ODI, making it Bangladesh's biggest opening partnership. They did it in just 9.2 overs, also making it Bangladesh's fastest 100-plus stand for any wicket. In just five partnerships, Litton and Rony have reached 300 runs together, something that has taken the other three pairs at least 13 innings to achieve.
"I don't think about records. It is a good feeling to get the fastest fifty, but I would have felt better had I scored a hundred."
Rony Talukdar is enjoying a purple patch following the BPL•AFP/Getty Rony, making a comeback after nearly eight years, is matching Litton's strike-rate in the last two T20I series.
