Ireland's Chattogram Blues

Dave Sihra (Substack - Dave Meets Ball)

In Game Three, the visitors had a chance to seal a first T20I series win in Asia but may be left instead with lots to think about ahead of the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup.

Bangladesh 119 for 2 (Tanzid 55*, Emon 33*, H Tector 1-17) beat Ireland 117 (Stirling 38, Mustafizur 3-11, Rishad 3-21) by eight wickets

It’s a bit of a head-scratcher alright. Ireland lost with 38 balls remaining and yet had their chance to take the series in Game Two. Two catches and maybe a few extra runs on Saturday could have been the difference and the visitors might have been flying home with a very different feeling.

Tim Tector (17 off 10) got possibly his last chance to impress ahead of the T20 World Cup. He finished the series as the third-highest run scorer from both sides with 87 at a strike rate of 161. Is it enough to force his way into the side permanently?

The feeling at the moment is that Ross Adair remains the man to open at the World Cup and perhaps it would have taken something special from Tector to change that plan.

Could you possibly play both? In theory, yes, but it could be a bit like trying to get Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott into the Republic of Ireland’s forward line for the football World Cup play-offs.

A slow death

Ireland were 51-2 after the powerplay. Not quite at the heights of the second T20I (75-1), but not bad either. However then we had 16-3 in overs 6-10 with 14 singles. They ran two once.

Now T20 is not really a game of singles. Hell, it might not even be a game of running between the wickets at all if you ask West Indies when they won the 2012 and 2016 Men’ s T20 World Cups. Consistent dot balls though will kill you.

Curtis Campher got out last ball before drinks, trying to make space to attack an incredible googly from Rishad Hossain who finished with 3-21 (4). And you’d Bangladesh’s spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed looking on like a proud Dad.

It wasn’t long ago that Bangladesh were crying out for leg-spin and even had to mandate domestic teams to play wrist-spinners. Two coaches were sacked for not selecting leg-spinners. Now Rishad is the fourth-highest wicket taker in Men’s T20Is for Bangladesh, having only played two years internationally.

118 was always doing to take some defending. But what about 130, maybe 140? 16-3 from 51-2 is a dramatic change.

Rishad was exceptional. Mahedi Hasan, the off-spinner, had another good game with 1-24. Mustafizur (3-11) meanwhile is simply a wonder. The “Fizz” (30) has been playing international cricket for 10 years, still has maintained the mystique of his exceptional off-break slower ball, and has even come back from a shoulder injury that could have stopped him bowling his party trick.

How good is Mustafizur? He bowled his regulation speedy left arm off-break to Harry Tector who blocked it right under his eyes. Fair enough, right? But the ball went off the bat into the surface and then ripped violently backward towards the wicket. Tector desperately tried to get a leg out to protect his stumps but it was too late.

The batter’s only mistake was maybe not pre-empting the incredible rip Mustafizur gets and perhaps instead playing it in front as opposed to late.

Ireland needed to find a way to get an extra ten or fifteen runs. Easier said than done. T20 cricket is definitely not a game of grafting. Campher chose what he felt was the best option to counter-attack Rishad. Perhaps Ben Calitz could have found something different for those ten or fifteen runs? Or maybe the answer is actually Tim Tector in the middle order.

Finding those extra runs could be crucial in transforming tough games like this into tight ones that give Ireland a chance to edge out opposition.

Who’s to say how things pan out in Group B? Ireland could have a great day against either Sri Lanka or Australia, then a very tough one in the final game against Zimbabwe when we just need to crawl across the line to advance. Or maybe it’s the Oman game.

Even before fatigue was mentioned by Paul Stirling in his post-match interview, there was a definite feel of last day of the tour about Game Three at Chattorgram. The match was earlier too than the previous two T20Is which often means the bags are packed, everyone is checked out of the hotel and there’s a flight immediately after to catch.

Before their departure we got to see spin overs from Gareth Delany and Harry Tector in the powerplay which either meant Paul Stirling felt those were his best options on a tired pitch or they still wanted to try a few extra things before February’s T20 World Cup to see how they go.

Delany wasn’t as effective as Harry Tector in the powerplay. The all-rounder tried his new change up of bowling his stock leg-break slightly more behind the crease to throw off the batter’s timing. However it sat up slightly on this surface and you’d want the extra fielders out.

Either way Harry Tector’s arm balls from a height around the wicket, with an occasional round arm off-spinner looked very effective on this slower surface. File that all away for Sri Lanka.

The traditional arm ball is a favourite of Matthew Humphreys after he picked it up from Ireland’s spin coach Chris Brown in autumn of last year and it’s worked out very well. So, very happy to see Harry get funky under the guidance of his spin coach.

There’ll be a sense of disappointment for Heinrich Malan and Paul Stirling not to walk away with a series victory considering the winning positions they had been in. However both captain and head coach may still be pleased with how the group are progressing.

Stirling himself found patches of form. Tim Tector looks a very good stand-in opener having auditioned well. Brother Harry had a good hit in Game One. Lorcan Tucker got runs. Josh Little looked better as he went. Mark Adair is back! And of course there was the fabulous Matthew Humphreys 4-13 in Game One.

It all came thick and fast. The immense positives from Game One almost feel quite a while ago, with plenty happening since. Were there also ghosts from losses past - Canada (2024), or even Namibia (2021) which launched our T20 reboot.

Certainly lots to think about at the baggage carousel.

This article was originally published on Dave Sihra’s Substack: Dave Meets Ball