Veteran Bangladeshi batter Mushfiqur Rahim is set to play his 100th Test at home against Ireland, with the second game of the two-match series being confirmed by the visiting board. As per ESPNCricinfo, Cricket Ireland had earlier suggested an ODI series instead of a second Test, but with the board agreeing for the latter yet again, Rahim, who currently stands on having played 98 Tests, will become first cricketer from his country to get to centenary appearances in the longest format of the game.
The 18-year-old Rahim had made his Test debut in 2005 at Lord's against England and is the only player from Bangladesh to score 6,000-plus runs in the longest format of the game, including 12 hundreds and 27 half-centuries. In the recent series against Sri Lanka, Rahum returned scores of 163, 49, 35 and 26.
Bangladesh drew the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle but lost to the hosts in the second. Their fortunes in the World Test Championship (WTC) haven't been great but a series like this against Ireland might help them get some confidence in the red-ball format, especially since they have some tough tours to negotiate against Australia and the current champions South Africa.
The two-match series is set to kick off on November 11 in Sylhet. Bangladesh and Ireland have previously met only once in Test cricket, back in 2023 in Mirpur, which the hosts won comfortably.
After the two Tests, the three T20Is are scheduled for November 27, 29 and December 2, with the first two scheduled to be held in Chattogram, and the finale in Dhaka. Before Ireland, the West Indies are scheduled to tour Bangladesh for three ODIs and as many T20Is to extend their sub-continent tour, which includes a T20I series against Nepal in the UAE and two Test matches against India before that.
