Bangladesh off-spinning all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz said that they are not considering Ireland as a weak opponent, but rather will be more focused when they face off against the low-ranked side in the one-off Test match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
The match will start at 10 a.m. and T Sports GTV will televise the tie live.
The Tigers received a massive blow around half a day prior to the game as their key pacer Taskin was ruled out on the back of a side strain injury, and as per the Bangladesh Cricket Board medical unit, the speedster would take at least two weeks to heal it completely.
However, considering the number of total matches played by each side, undeniably Bangladesh would have the upper hand, as they have played in a total of 136 games in the white outfits since their inception, while the tourists have played only three.
‘We cannot take Ireland lightly. We respect them. We will give our best,’ said Miraz in the pre-match press conference on Monday.
He further hinted that they would be continuing their freshly embraced aggressive brand of cricket in the red-ball games as well as they did in the white-ball games against the visitors.
‘Everyone plays attacking in Test cricket so we will try to keep the same mentality as we shift from white to red ball. Scoring runs is the important regardless of the colour of the ball.’
Bangladesh racked up record breaking totals 338-8 and 349-6 in the successive two ODIs against the tourists.
In the opener of the three ODIs, they surpassed their initial highest score of 333-8 in the 50 over game, amassing 338, and it took them only 48 hours to break their new record, posting 349 in the series finale.
And in T20Is, opener Liton Das hit the fastest 18-ball 50 for Bangladesh, surpassing Mohammad Ashraful, who earned the feat by smacking just 21 balls back in 2007 against the West Indies.
However, Miraz also vowed to overcome their winless run at the SBNCS, as they bagged their last victory in the country’s home venue against Zimbabwe back in 2020.
‘We nearly won our last Test on this ground against India. It is our lucky ground. Since we haven’t won here for a while, it will be a good feeling if we can win.’
