Bangladesh on course to win Sylhet Test by an innings

Sports Desk

Bangladesh are on the verge of an innings victory in the first Test of the two-match series against Ireland at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. The Tigers controlled the entire match by the end of the third day’s play with a dominant performance with both bat and ball.

Bangladesh came out to bat on Saturday morning from a one-wicket deficit the previous day. Although the previous day’s heroes Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Mominul Haque were both dismissed quickly, captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Liton Das managed the innings. Joy was restricted to a career-best 171 runs, while Mominul was dismissed for 82 runs.

Shanto then played a very responsible innings with the bat. He scored a century off 114 balls—his eighth century of his Test career. Liton Das also batted aggressively and scored 60 runs. In the end, the tail-enders added a few more runs to take the lead past 300.

Bangladesh eventually declared their innings at 587 for 8, giving them a lead of 301 runs in response to Ireland’s first innings of 286.

Ireland collapsed with the bat again in the second innings. They were 86 for 5 at the end of the day, still trailing by 215 runs. Among Bangladesh’s bowlers, Hasan Murad, Taijul Islam, Nahid Rana and Mehedi Hasan Miraj took all five wickets.

The way the match is progressing, if Bangladesh can quickly take the remaining wickets tomorrow morning, they have the best chance of winning by an innings.