Bangladesh were well on top as they needed four wickets from winning the second and final Test after nine wickets fell on the fourth day at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.听
Tigers are leading the two-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test by an innings and 47 runs in Sylhet.听
Ireland made 176-6 in the second innings after they were set an improbable target of 509 runs by Bangladesh, who declared their second innings on 297-4.听
Curtis Campher remained unbeaten on 34 off 93, while Andy McBrine was giving him company on 11 for the visitors when the umpires called stumps at 4:42pm鈥�12 minutes after the scheduled play.听
This is the first time a Test in Mirpur has gone into the fifth day after 2022.听
Bangladesh began their bowling on a high note as Taijul had his 247th Test wicket to topple Shakib Al Hasan in the chart of the highest wicket-takers for Bangladesh when he trapped Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie lbw.听
When Taijul struck again to have Paul Stirling caught after bat-pad, it seemed the Test might finish within the fourth day.听
However, Harry Tector led Ireland鈥檚 fightback by adding 51 and 41 runs for the third and fourth wicket with Cade Carmichael, respectively.听
Tector fell to Hasan Murad soon after reaching his fifty before the left-arm spinner trapped Carmichael lbw. Khaled Ahmed removed Lorcan Tucker before Stephen Doheny started to frustrate Bangladesh.听
He survived twice when Murad and Ebadot Hossain dropped two regulation chances. However, Bangladesh were finally able to see his back when Taijul grabbed his third by having him lbw.听
But Campher ground it out the remainder of the day for the visitors to give themselves an outside chance to secure an improbable draw.听
Earlier, Ireland struck twice in quick succession early in the morning as Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto fell in consecutive overs.听
Shadman was trapped lbw by Andy McBrine after adding nine runs to his overnight score of 69 runs in the fourth over of the morning.听
Shanto was surprised by a short-pitched delivery that bounced off the pitch as he was caught at gully to become the first Test wicket of Jordan Neill.听
After scoring a hundred in Sylhet, the Bangladesh skipper failed twice in Mirpur to reach even double figures.听
However, Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim then started to extend the lead as they added 123 runs off 167 balls on either side of the lunch break.听
Bangladesh finished the first session with a lead of 479 runs as Mominul and Mushfiq were nearing a hundred and a fifty, respectively.听
Mushfiq became the second batter after Ricky Ponting to hit a century and a half-century in his 100th Test when he reached his fifty in 78 balls.听
However, Mominul fell 13 runs short of his 14th Test hundred as he fell to Gavin Hoey. The left-hander couldn鈥檛 convert his fifty into a hundred for the third consecutive time, while two of those were 80-plus innings. 听听
Mominul鈥檚 dismissal prompted Shanto to declare the second innings at 297-4.听
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