Home ›› 06 Apr 2023 ›› Sport
An inspired performance from skipper Shakib Al Hasan on Wednesday took Bangladesh to the brink of their first home Test win since 2020 as they need six more wickets to close out an innings win over Ireland.
Shakib scored 87 runs, which contributed to Bangladesh scoring 369, and then, picked up two wickets to see Ireland end the day on 27-4.
Ireland still require 128 runs to avoid an innings defeat, which would be Bangladesh’s third in the format.
Bangladesh started the day in trouble as they had lost Najmul Hossain Shanto and Tamim Iqbal the previous evening, and then Mominul Haque early.
However, Shakib came in and started to play in with a positive intent, something Mehidy Hasan Miraz had said they would try to continue on in this Test from their white-ball matches.
Shakib notched up his fifty off just 45 balls, and despite missing out on a century – which would have been his first in Tests in six years – trying to sweep a ball from wide outside off stump on 87, he was still batting coach Jamie Siddons’ best batter of the day.
“He scored quickly, but he didn't hit the ball in the air a lot. I thought he was the pick of our batters today. He's very disciplined. We lost three wickets and he held up really well, put a big partnership together and put us in a really good position at the end of the day,” he said.
Then, once Ireland came out to bat in their second innings, Shakib took the ball in the first over, contrasting his first innings antics, when he did not take up the ball until the 66th over and only bowled three. And with his fourth ball, he trapped James McCollum (0) LBW, a decision that he brought in his favour with a review, the match’s first successful one.
He then also found the edge of Curtis Campher (1) to Liton Das behind the stumps, and in between, Taijul Islam had dismissed Murray Commins (1) and Andy Balbirnie (3), resulting in the Irish ending the day on 27-4.
“There are two good batters right in the middle (Harry Tector and PJ Moor), so I'm pretty sure they could potentially go get big scores first. So, I feel we have to see out that first half an hour tomorrow morning and who knows what could happen,” Andy McBrine, Ireland’s star of the day with six wickets, said about avoiding an innings defeat.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh were shaken early on as Mominul (17) was bowled around his legs in just the third over of the day, increasing the trouble they were in. However, a 159-run stand between Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim allowed Bangladesh to take complete control of the game. Shakib missed out on a ton but Mushfiq did not as he became the only third Bangladeshi batter to reach double figures in centuries reaching triple figures off 135 balls.
Liton was also on the front foot from the very start but he gave away his good start to get out on 43 off 41 balls, and Mushfiq seemingly missed a big ton as he was caught in the deep on 126.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz then dragged the Bangladesh batting to 369 with his fourth Test fifty before falling as the final wicket. However, Bangladesh scored those runs in just 80.3 overs with a run rate of 4.58, their highest in innings they scored beyond 300.
“Yeah, pretty aggressive (batting approach) I thought. We were served up a few bad balls, so it was good that the boys were ready and willing to put them away. So, the scoring rate went quickly which took the game forward really fast. Happy with the way we batted,” Siddons said after the match.
