An economical bowling performance led by Nahida Akter helped the Bangladesh women's team restrict their Irish counterparts for 134-5 in the must-win second T20I of the three-match series at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.

Left-arm spinner Nahida finished with 2-20 in her four overs, while Jahanara Alam, Jannatul Ferdous and Fahima Khatun took one wicket each in a much improved bowling performance compared to the first game.

For Ireland, Laura Delany (35 off 25 balls) and Orla Prendergast (32 off 25) were the chief contributors in a stop-start innings that never really got going.

Batting first, Ireland had started cautiously, with the opening partnership yielding 34 runs off 35 balls. Nahida broke that stand by removing skipper Gaby Lewis for (14 off 18 balls) in the penultimate delivery of the Powerplay.

From then on, Ireland kept losing wickets in regular successions and ended up with what seems like a below par total at the halfway mark.

In the previous match, Ireland had posted 169-5 and won the game by 12 runs.

Bangladesh have to win this game to stay alive in the series.