Taijul strikes late in first session; Ireland 65 for 3 at Lunch

Bangladesh's left-arm spinner Taijul Islam struck late in the first session on the opening day of their one-off Test against Ireland as Bangladesh went to the lunch break with the visitors needing a good partnership at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today. 

At Lunch, Ireland were reduced to 65 for three in 26 overs. Two debutants in Harry Tector and Curtis Campher remain unbeaten on 18 and 9, respectively.  

Taijul, who has been getting turn off the pitch from the very first delivery even on a greenish top, trapped in front Irish skipper Andy Balbirnie in the 22nd over, just when things started looking good for the visitors. 

Balbirnie went for a sweep off a seemingly full-ish delivery from Taijul and paid the price as he failed to connect. The ball went on to strike the right-hander's pads and the review, taken by Ireland after umpires' initial decision, only showed that the ball had not touched bat and would have gone on to hit the stumps. Ireland, however, retained the review as the impact was on umpire's call. 

Before that wicket, Ireland seemed to have started to regroup after losing two wickets in the first hour of the day. Balbirnie and Tector looked to be comfortable during their 21-run third-wicket stand off 71 deliveries. 

Tector, playing his first Test, looked confident as he struck Taijul for a boundary through the mid-on region to open his account before using his feet to smash Mehedi Hasan Miraz for a maximum down the ground.  

Earlier, pacers Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain accounted for the wickets of Irish openers Murray Commins and James McCollum, respectively. Shoriful began by trapping in front Commins in the fifth over while Ebadot had McCollum edge one back to second slip in the 10th over.