Mushfiq hits ton as Bangladesh on way to big lead

Mushfiq hits ton as Bangladesh on way to big lead

Mushfiqur Rahim brought up his 10th Test century as Bangladesh are well on their way to take a sizable first innings lead against Ireland as they ended the second session of Day 2 on 316-5, leading by 102 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Mushfiq completed his ton off 135 balls with the help of 13 fours and a six. He is right now batting on 124 off 159 balls with Mehidy Hasan Miraz accompanying him at the other end on 18 off 20 balls.

Ireland got the wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das in the session but couldn’t keep the Bangladesh batters quiet, who accumulated 146 runs in the session off 27 overs at a run rate of 5.40 to surpass Ireland’s first innings score of 214.

Shakib looked set to score his first Test ton since 2017 but in the end finished on 87 off 94 balls, after giving a catch to the keeper against off-spinner Andy McBrine.

Liton, who came out to bat with his sunglasses on, took on the Irish bowlers from the get go and played an entertaining 41-ball 43-run knock, which ended when he hit leg-spinner Ben White straight down the throat of Harry Tector at mid-off.

Just one ball before his dismissal, Liton was lucky to survive a run out chance when he was stranded at the middle of the pitch after a miscommunication with Mushfiq. But wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker couldn’t gather a regulation throw from Tector allowing Liton to reach the striker’s end in time.

But Liton couldn’t make use of that life.

Earlier, Bangladesh resumed the second session on 170-3 with Mushfiq and Shakib batting on 53 and 74 respectively, trailing Ireland by 44 runs.

Mushfiq and Shakib added 29 runs to their partnership before the latter’s eventual dismissal, which ended the stand on 159.

But the scoring rate didn’t get affected by Shakib’s departure, thanks to Liton, who hit eight fours in his brief stay at the middle and formed a 87-run stand off just 83 balls with Mushfiq.

After Liton’s departure, Miraz joined Mushfiq and the pair have added 30 runs for the sixth wicket so far.