Honours even on bowlers' day in Mirpur Test

Losing a wicket in the last over or last ball of the day is an age-old habit for Bangladesh batters. Tuesday was no different.

Tamim Iqbal, after getting set, gave away his wicket in the last delivery of the day as Bangladesh were reduced to 34 for two after 10 overs. The Tigers had the upper hand after Ireland's batting, but now the honours are even after the end of day 1 of the Mirpur Test between Bangladesh and Ireland. 

Tamim lost his opening partner Najmul Hossain Shanto for a golden duck in the first over after bundling Ireland out for 214. 

Mominul Haque and Tamim then played cautiously to see off the rest of the day. But Tamim's departure brought Ireland right back into the game. 

Earlier, on a day when skipper Shakib Al Hasan brought himself into the attack in the 66th over and bowled only three overs, the other left-arm spinner Taijul Islam stole all the spotlight with a five-for with the ball. Taijul cleaned up the Irish batting lineup to bundle the visitors out for 214 in the first innings on Ireland's Test return after four years.

The left-arm spinner gave away only 58 runs in the 28 overs that he bowled for his five wickets. 10 of his 28 overs were maiden. 

Taijul's wickets were crucial in the context of the game. His first victim was Ireland's captain Andy Balbirnie just before the lunch to unsettle the Irish batting order. Balbirnie had built a 21-run partnership with Harry Tector. Had that partnership gone on for a bit longer, Ireland might have had the chance to score big on a sporting Mirpur wicket. He then struck in his back-to-back overs to all but break Ireland's batting order in the second session. 

He picked up two more wickets in the final session of the day, cleaning up the tail to complete his 11th five-for in Test cricket.

Ireland handed a debut to six players and one of them, Harry Tector, became the first Ireland batter to score a fifty in his debut Test innings. Tector bagged 50 runs off 92 balls hitting six boundaries and one maximum.

Apart from Tector, Curtis Campher and Lorcan Tucker reached their 30s. Campher bagged 34 while Tucker score 37 valuable runs. 

Tucker's small but useful partnerships with the tailenders eventually took Ireland past 200.

Apart from Taijul, Miraz and Ebadot Hossain both bagged a brace. 

Miraz gave an important breakthrough in the second session by cleaning up Tector's stumps to break a 74-run partnership just when Ireland seemed to fight back in the match. 

The hosts, surprisingly, played with three pacers, as a part of their positive approach in red ball cricket. Two of the pacers were on the wicket list, only Khaled Ahmed remained wicketless.

One thing which caught everyone's attention was Shakib's lack of involvement in the game despite being the skipper of the team amidst all the IPL rumors. Shakib brought himself into the attack in the 66th over. Ireland were already seven down by then. He bowled only three overs and conceded eight runs including a maiden over. 

While Shakib was doing pretty much nothing on the field, the likes of Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Tamim Iqbal were seen changing the field and talking to the bowlers now and then.