A brilliant maiden century from Najmul Hossain Shanto, alongside help from Towhid Hridoy and Mushfiqur Rahim, guided Bangladesh to a three-wicket win in the second One-Day International of their three-match series against Ireland in Chelmsford, England.
Their chase of 320 is their third-highest in history.
After rain delayed the match, it was cut down to 45 overs per side, and batting first, Ireland put 319-6 on board, courtesy of a brilliant century from Harry Tector, who scored 140 off 113 balls.
In reply, Bangladesh lost skipper Tamim Iqbal (7) in the fourth over, and Liton Das (21) followed suit in the 10th over despite a good start.
At that point, Bangladesh seemed way off the chase but a 61-run partnership off 47 balls between Shakib Al Hasan and Najmul brought the Tigers back into the game before Shakib was caught off Curtis Campher’s bowling for 26.
Najmul did not stop and he got great assistance from youngster Towhid Hridoy, who joined him in the middle for a brilliant 131-run stand, which took just 102 balls.
Najmul picked up his first-ever ODI century off 83 balls, while Towhid reached his fifty off 49 balls.
However, Towhid’s dismissal for 68 off 58 balls saw Bangladesh under some pressure, and when Najmul returned for 117, the Tigers still needed 63 runs.
Mushfiqur Rahim then added 29 off 17 balls with Mehidy Hasan Miraz (19) but the latter could not last long, although the former kept going.
His brief stand with Taijul Islam (9) brought Bangladesh within 11 runs of victory, and by the time the final over came, Bangladesh needed five runs.
However, two dot balls saw some pressure back on Mushfiq, and that showed when he tried to launch a full toss outside the park, which was caught in the deep. But the full toss was over waist height, leading to that being called a no-ball, meaning Bangladesh needed four runs off four balls and the next ball was a free hit.
And on that free hit, Mushfiq scooped it over the wicketkeeper to ensure that Bangladesh went 1-0 up in the series.
