Bangladesh out to dominate Test newcomers Ireland
Bangladesh hardly ever start a Test as the favourites. But Tuesday will be one of those rare occasions when they take on Ireland in a one-off Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
The match will start at 10:00am and will be televised live by T Sports.
This will be the first time Bangladesh and Ireland face off in the longest format of the game.
Ireland, who along with Afghanistan became the newest members of the Test arena in 2017, have only played three Test matches and lost all of them.
So, for the second time in Bangladesh’s Test history, the Tigers will face a team which is less experienced than them.
The last time it happened was in 2019, when they hosted Afghanistan for the Afghan team’s third ever Test in Chattogram.
Bangladesh were the favourites to win that match as well. But on a rank-turner, it was the Tigers that got thrashed by 224 runs, which is widely regarded as their most humiliating defeat of all time.
What happened against Afghanistan is unlikely to happen against Ireland mainly on two accounts.
Firstly, Ireland don’t have crafty spinners like Rashid Khan in their repertoire who can make the Bangladesh batters dance on a turning track in Mirpur. Secondly, Bangladesh look to be in great momentum, having dominated Ireland in the shorter formats in all games barring one.
Bangladesh came out all guns blazing against Ireland in the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series and the following three Twenty20s.
The hosts won the ODI series 2-0, with the second match getting washed out after the Tigers posted their highest ever ODI score of 349-6.
Bangladesh dominated the first two T20s to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. But then they saw the flip side of their overtly attacking approach as they got bundled out for a mere 124 in the third T20 and lost by seven wickets.
But the defeat didn’t dampen the team’s moral as Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of both the Test and T20 outfits, said that they will continue playing the same way.
The selectors also showed their intent to dominate Ireland and not just defeat them when they selected a full-strength squad for the Ireland Test.
The Bangladesh camp, however, was hit by an injury as pacer Taskin Ahmed, the player of the series in the T20 series, got ruled out of the Test due to a side strain.
Pacer Rejaur Rahman was brought in as Taskin’s replacement.
Opener Tamim Iqbal is also uncertain for the match due to a family emergency.
Still, Bangladesh, on paper, should overpower an Ireland team which has no experience of playing red-ball cricket in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh are out to flex their muscle against newcomers Ireland and are likely to pack their team with spinners to bamboozle the tourists on a turning track in Mirpur.
Ireland’s prospects don’t look too great heading into the match. They haven’t played a Test since they lost to England at the Lord’s in 2019.
The tourists will be happy if they can put up some fight and show a gritty performance. Any result other than a resounding defeat would be an upset for Ireland and a disaster for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Liton Das (vc), Tamim Iqbal, Shadman Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Rejaur Rahman, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Mahmudul Hasan
Ireland: Andy Balbirnie (c), Peter Moor (wk), Lorcan Tucker (wk), George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Curtis Campher, Harry Tector, Murray Commins, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys, Ben White