Ireland came out all guns blazing and stunned Bangladesh in the first of three T20Is at Chattogram. Ireland came out all guns firing and outplayed Bangladesh the hosts in all facets of the game to take a 1-0 lead in the series. This is their first win in 2025 as well. They only lost the toss but dominated the game. Put into bat first, Ireland rode on Harry Tector’s unbeaten 69 off 45 balls to hold the innings together and propel them to get to 181/4 in 20 overs.
In reply, Matthew Humphreys was the star of the show as his 4/13 bamboozled Bangladesh and he was ably supported by the returning Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy as Bangladesh never really got going in the chase and lost wickets at regular intervals. Only Towhid Hridoy played a lone hand and was unbeaten on 83 off 50 balls but the top order was blown away and it was due to his late hitting that Bangladesh got to 142/9. But they were woefully short of the target.
Harry Tector’s unbeaten 69 powers Ireland to a massive 181/4 in 20 overs
Put into bat first, captain Paul Stirling and Tim Heatley Tector opened the batting for Ireland while Shoriful Islam started the proceedings for Bangladesh. Ireland got off to a fast start courtesy of their openers as Stirling and Tim took the attack to the cleaners. Stirling scored 21 off 18 balls with 4 fours to his name. Stirling was the first man to go as Tanzim Hasan Sakib got his wicket but the openers put on 40 in 4.2 overs when Stirling got out.
Harry Tector came in to join Tim Heatley Tector as Ireland looked to keep things going. But Bangladesh put a break on the scoring after Stirling’s dismissal and kept the Irish score to 48/1 in 6 overs. Tim Heatley Tector maintained a good tempo and scored 32 off 19 balls with 6 fours to his name but he too fell after getting a start to Rishad Hossain to leave the visitors at 71/2 in 8.2 overs. Lorcan Tucker walked out to bat next, the keeper batter and shared a good partnership with Harry Tector.
It was the Harry Tector show from hereon as he held the innings together and mixed caution with aggression whenever required and was ably supported by Lorcan Tucker who made 18 off 14 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name. Tucker fell in the 13th over as Ireland had just crossed their 100 and were 105/3 in 12.3 overs. Curtis Campher came out to bat next and the duo complimented each other really well to put on 44 off 29 balls for the fourth wicket. The attack came from both ends but by now Tector had become the dominant partner and was guiding this innings.
The duo took Ireland into the death overs and Bangladesh were searching for leather towards the end. Campher did fall for 24 off 17 balls with 3 fours and 1 six to his name to leave Ireland at 149/4 in 17.2 overs with 180 still in sight when George Dockrell joined the in-form Harry Tector with about 2.4 overs to go. Dockrell too played a cameo of unbeaten 12 off 7 balls but it was the Harry Tector show as he blazed away under the lights of the Chattogram lights.
To put things into perspective after the powerplay, Ireland scored 65 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in 8 overs and then in the death overs, they turned it on to score 68 runs for the loss of one wicket to get the score past 180. Harry Tector remained unbeaten on 69 off 45 balls with 1 four and 5 sixes to his name as his innings was the cornerstone of Ireland getting to 181/4 in 20 overs. 5 extras given by the Bangladesh bowlers.
It was a hard day and toil for the Bangladesh bowlers with Tanzim Hasan Sakib being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/41 in 4 overs. Rishad Hossain bowled decently with figures of 1/34 in 4 overs. Shoriful Islam managed to get a wicket and finished with 1/42 in 4 overs. Mustafizur Rahman was economical and finished with 0/23 in 4 overs while Nasum Ahmed finished with 0/37 in 4 overs. Bangladesh now needed 182 runs to win the match something Litton Das said at the toss that he was willing to chase.
Matthew Humphreys’ 4-wicket haul stuns Bangladesh and gives Ireland a famous win
Chasing 182 for the win, Tanzid Hasan and Parvez Hossain Emon came out to bat for Bangladesh while Matthew Humphreys started the proceedings for Ireland. Bangladesh were never really in the chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals with the top four gone cheaply. Tanzid Hasan was the first one to depart for 2 off 5 balls while captain Litton Das was the next to go for 1 as Humphreys and Mark Adair were on fire with the new ball.
Parvez Hossain Emon also fell for 1 in the 4th over as Adair got his second wicket in his comeback match and was on fire to say the least. Bangladesh were reduced to 5/3 in 3.3 overs and to make matters worse, Saif Hassan too fell for 6 off 13 balls with one boundary to his name to reduce Bangladesh to 18/4 in 5,3 overs inside the powerplay. Towhid Hridoy came out to bat and was joined by Jaker Ali as Bangladesh were reeling at 20/4 in 6 overs at the end of a disastrous powerplay for them.
Hridoy and Jaker built a mini-stand to try and recover things for Bangladesh but the damage was done in the powerplay and the match was as good as over. The duo repaired things to a degree even though the required rate went up but showed some fight and stiff resistance. But the resistance could last till 11 overs as at the first ball of the 12th over, Jaker Ali fell for 20 off 16 balls with a maximum to his name to leave Bangladesh still struggling at 66/5 in 11.1 overs.
But this wicket opened the floodgates for another collapse as Tanzim Hasan Sakib fell for 5 off 6 with one boundary to his name to Matthew Humphreys. Rishad Hossain came and went for a bronze duck while Nasum Ahmed fell for a golden duck as Humphreys turned the game with 3 wickets in the over and 2 in 2 balls as well to leave Bangladesh reeling at an embarrassing 74/8 in 12.5 overs Shoriful Islam came and survived the hat-trick ball.
But amidst the carnage and everything, one man stood out and was the cut above the rest for Bangladesh and that was Towhid Hridoy and was a little supported by Shoriful who made 12 off 13 balls with one six to his name. The duo played through the middle to the death overs and kept Ireland at bay before Shoriful was dismissed by McCarthy with the score reading 122/9 in 18 overs. Mustafizur Rahman the last man joined Hridoy in the middle.
Some lusty blows by Towhid Hridoy took the score to respectable levels but it was a bridge too far in the end. Ireland took the foot of the table by dropping multiple catches including that of Hridoy and that is an area they need to work on going ahead. But they had things under control and Hridoy’s last over blows took him to an unbeaten 83 off 50 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes to his name as Bangladesh finished with 142/9 in 20 overs with Rahman unbeaten on 2 off 4 balls. 10 extras in the form of wides given by Ireland fielders.
Matthew Humphreys was the pick of the bowlers for Ireland with figures of 4/13 in 4 overs including three in an over. He was ably supported by Barry McCarthy who finished with 3/23 in 4 overs. The returning Mark Adair bowled well for his 2/20 in 4 overs. The rest of them went for a bit. Joshua Little finished with 0/40 in 4 overs. Gareth Delany bowled 2 overs for 24 runs while Curtis Campher went for 22 runs in 2 overs.
So, Ireland win convincingly by 39 runs to go 1-0 up in this 3-match series. For his outstanding bowling display, Matthew Humphreys was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead
So, Ireland are 1-0 up in this 3-match T20I series. The next T20I takes place on Saturday 29th November, 2025 at Chattogram with the first ball set to be bowled at 5:30 PM IST. Ireland would like to seal a rare series win in Bangladesh in the second game, while the hosts will be desperate to bounce back and level the series 1-1.
Which way is the pendulum going to go on Saturday? Well, we will have to wait and find out the answer.