Toss Ireland chose to bowl vs Bangladesh
Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and decided to bowl first against Bangladesh in the second of three ODIs in Sylhet on Monday. He explained that he wanted to give his bowlers a chance to have a go in overcast conditions - there has been some rain in Sylhet over the last 24 hours.
Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh captain, said he would have liked to bowl, too. Now that Bangladesh must bat first, Tamim hoped they can replicate what they did in
the first ODI, where they put up their biggest ODI total to date (338 for 8) and then pulled off their biggest win in terms of runs (183).
Shakib Al Hasan and
Towhid Hridoy, on debut, did most of the scoring, with 93 and 92 respectively, while Mushfiqur Rahim provided the impetus at the close with a 26-ball 44.
For today's game, Ireland have handed an ODI debut to
Matthew Humphreys in place of Gareth Delany, who conceded 50 runs in six wicketless overs in the first game. Bangladesh have rested Mustafizur Rahman, with
Hasan Mahmud coming in. There was still no Mehidy Hasan Miraz for Bangladesh and it's understood that he hasn't completely recovered after injuring his eyes during a football game prior to the first ODI.
Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Yasir Ali, 7 Towhid Hridoy, 8 Taskin Ahmed, 9, Ebadot Hossain, 10 Nasum Ahmed, 11 Hasan Mahmud
Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Stephen Doheny, 3 Andrew Balbirnie (capt), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 6 George Dockrell, 7 Curtis Campher, 8 Andy McBrine, 9 Mark Adair, 10 Matthew Humphreys 11 Graham Hume