Mahmudul Hasan made his return to Test cricket with a career-best 169 not out as Bangladesh were in command of the first Test against Ireland after the second day鈥檚 play at the Sylhet International Stadium on Wednesday.听
The hosts were 338-1 at stumps and were already 52 runs ahead in the first innings after Ireland were all out for 286 early in the second morning.听
The visitors had to endure a toiling day, as they got only the wicket of Shadman Islam, who was edged behind to the wicketkeeper after a well-made 80.听
After building a 168-run opening partnership with Shadman, Mahmudul was well supported by former captain Mominul Haque, who remained not out on 80. Their second wicket partnership so far yielded 170 runs.
This was the first instance in Bangladesh鈥檚 Test history where two century partnerships came for the first two wickets.听
It was Shadman who led Bangladesh鈥檚 charge at the beginning, as the left-hander brought up his fifty in only 49 balls. The hosts went to lunch after making 109 runs in 24 overs with both openers reaching fifties.听
Shadman was well on his way to bringing up a hundred before his decision to play a late cut off Matthew Humphreys brought his downfall. Ireland got the wicket via a successful review after umpire Ahsan Raza turned down their original appeal.听
However, Shadman struck at 76.92 with nine fours and a six鈥攈is highest in terms of strike rate where he scored a minimum of 50 runs.听
Mahmudul, on the other end, went on to carry on his positive rhythm. At tea, the right-hander was six runs away from his second Test hundred.听
He brought that up with a four off Jordan Neill soon after the break. Interestingly, this was only his second boundary after reaching his fifty, while he had struck seven fours and a six before that.听
Mominul, who was cautious at the beginning, soon started to pick up the pace. He brought up his 23rd Test fifty in style with a six off Andy McBrine.听
Meanwhile, Mahmudul also changed his gear after reaching the hundred. After crossing his previous best score of 137, he reached his first 150 with a six off Curtis Campher and brought 16 runs from that over.听
Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie used as many as seven bowlers, but almost all of them had a difficult day on a solid batting track.听
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