A career-best 95 by Andy Balbirnie helped Ireland reach a strong 319 for four at stumps on day one of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Monday.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan’s decision to not introduce himself into the bowling attack till the 66th over of the first innings against Ireland raised a lot of questions on the opening day of their lone Test in Mirpur. Shakib, eventually, bowled only three overs on that day. 

Bangladesh Test side are undergoing their first practice session for the upcoming one-off Test against Ireland on April 4 but skipper Shakib Al Hasan was absent from the session.

Skipper Paul Stirling smashed 77 off 41 deliveries as Ireland registered their first win of the Bangladesh tour with a seven-wicket victory in the third and final T20I at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today.

The veteran batter was 42 off 25 deliveries as the visitors, 2-0 down in the three-match series, moved to 66 for two in eight overs.

After a five-match winning streak built on the back of fearless batting and thrilling pace bowling, the wheels finally seem to have come off for the new-look Tigers as were restricted to 124 runs in the third T20I against Ireland in Chattogram on Friday.

Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Rony Talukdar -- all in very good form throughout the series as the Tigers already won the series 2-0 -- failed to make their mark in the final T20I at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

After having featured for a record 61 matches on the trot for Bangladesh, Afif Hossain eventually lost his place from the side following a run of subpar performances and the southpaw was consequently sidelined in both ODI and T20I series against Ireland at home.

India and defending champions England are definitely in but former winners West Indies as well as South Africa and Sri Lanka could face a long, arduous road to reach the 2023 World Cup.

Afif Hossain has left the team hotel in Sylhet after being excluded from squad for the ODI series against Ireland.

Tamim Iqbal was the only wicket to fall, the Bangladesh skipper becoming a victim to Mark Adair’s direct throw on an ill-judged single.

Tamim Iqbal completed 15000 international runs before falling to a run-out.

Tamim, who turns 34 today, will also look to personally recover from a lean patch of form.

The good news is the CT scan done on Miraz revealed no cause for concern. However, he was taken to an ophthalmologist for extra precautions.

Three squads were announced on Thursday naming Irish stars like Paul Sterling, Harry Tector, Josh Little, Andy Balbirnie, and Curtis Campher. 

Ireland's long journey to credibility in global cricket took a quantum leap forward with their stunning upset over England at the T20 World Cup and left Andy Balbirnie's men dreaming of bigger things on the world stage.

England's hopes of reaching the T20 World Cup semi-finals suffered a massive blow on Wednesday after the former champions suffered a shock loss to Ireland when rain forced an early finish to their match at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Minnows Ireland pulled off a huge upset Wednesday, stunning world number two England by five runs with a fine bowling display in a rain-affected match to throw the Twenty20 World Cup wide open.

Disciplined bowling and an unbeaten half-century by Kusal Mendis powered Sri Lanka to a nine-wicket hammering of Ireland in their opening Super 12 match at the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday.

Spinner Maheesh Theekshana led Sri Lanka's attack with 2-19 as they restricted Ireland to 128-8 in their opening Super 12 match at the T20 World Cup on Sunday.