Bangladesh win a home Test after 3 years

Bangladesh won their first Test in home soil in over three years, registering a seven-wicket win over Ireland in the second session of the fourth day of the one-off Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.

Mushfiqur Rahim, the centurion of the first innings, hit an unbeaten 51 off 48 balls while Mominul Haque remained not out on 20 as Bangladesh chased down their target comfortably, reaching 138-3 in 27.1 overs.

Earlier, pacer Ebadot Hossain claimed the two remaining Ireland wickets to bundle them out for 292, just six runs more than their overnight score of 286-8, to set up a 138-run target for the hosts.

Ebadot finished on 3-37 while left-arm spinner Taijul Islam claimed 4-90.

This victory ended a nine-match winless streak in Tests for the Tigers. Their last Test victory came against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in January 2022.

Bangladesh’s previous home Test win was even further back, against Zimbabwe in Mirpur on February 2020.

On Day 4, Spinner Taijul and Mehidy Hasan Miraz opened the proceedings for the Tigers.

The spinners kept it tight for a few overs but couldn’t break Andy McBrine and Graham Hume’s resistance. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan then brought Ebadot into the attack and the pacer struck in his first over, beating McBrine’s bat and crashing onto his off-stump to dismiss him for 72.

Three overs later, it was Hume’s turn to depart as Ebadot induced an edge off his willow which Liton Das behind the stumps received gleefully to end his innings on 14.

In reply, Liton came out to open the innings with Tamim in place of Najmul Hossain Shanto as the management clearly wanted to chase down the total quickly on a track that was deteriorating.

Liton raced to 23 off 18 balls with the help of three boundaries and a six before losing his wicket in an unfortunate manner.

Liton attempted a pull shot against pacer Mark Adair which hit the inside edge of his bat, then hit his helmet before going on to hit the stumps.

Shanto, who got out for a golden duck in the first innings, hit a four to open his account. But that proved to be his only scoring shot as he then gave a catch at slip off McBrin, where Andy Balbirnie took a diving catch.

The on-field umpires referred the decision to the third umpire with a soft signal of not out. But the third umpire upon inspection decided it was time for Shanto to head back to the dressing room.

Mushfiq joined Tamim with the score on 43-2. The experienced batters took the team to the Lunch break on 89-2, 49 runs away from victory.

After the break, Tamim threw away his wicket. The opener tried to smash a short delivery from Ben White through midwicket but miscued his shot and got caught by Murray Commins.

But his wicket didn’t have any effect on the outcome. Mushfiq continued playing positively, completing his fifty off 47 balls with the help of seven fours and formed an unbroken 33-run stand with Mominul to take Bangladesh home with over one-and-a-half days to spare.

Earlier, Bangladesh bowled Ireland out for 214 on Day 1 with Taijul taking 5-58.

In reply, Bangladesh posted 369 to take a 155-run lead in the first innings thanks to Mushfiq’s 126, his 10th Test century, and Shakib’s timely 87 off 94 balls.

Irish off-spinner McBrine claimed 6-118.

Ireland, were slumped to 27-4 at stumps on Day 2 and were staring at an innings defeat.

But on Day 3, Lorcan Tucker hit his maiden Test century, 108, and Harry Tector made 56 to make sure Ireland avoided an embarrassing defeat and help them end the day with a 131-run lead.

However, the hosts reassumed the control of the match on Day 4 and completed the victory without much trouble.

Mushfiq was named the player of the match for his century and an unbeaten half-century.

The match also brought an end to Ireland’s tour of Bangladesh. Bangladesh won the preceding three-match One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 series by a margin of 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.