A dominant Bangladesh will be eyeing to clinch back-to-back clean sweep in the shortest format of cricket when they take on Ireland in the third and last T20I of the three-match series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today.
The match is scheduled to start at 2:00pm and will be telecast live on T Sports and GTV.
Bangladesh brought the Three Lions down to earth after they won that series by a 3-0 margin and they are now on the verge of replicating the same feat against Ireland before going into the last match of the series.
Both Bangladeshi batters and bowlers enjoyed great success in the first two matches and they outplayed the visitors by 22 runs (via the DLS method) and 77 runs respectively to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
The second match win against Ireland on Wednesday was Bangladesh’s fifth successive win in this format and it was the only time they won five matches in a row in this format.
Bangladesh will now look to extend their winning streak to six when they face Ireland in the last game of the T20 series.
“We would like to play like Tigers and should always dominate. At times, we might fail but we should not have any fear and if we can carry this mentality, we have more chances to achieve success,” in-form opener Rony Talkudar told reporters in Chattogram on Thursday.
Bangladesh T20 skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who surpassed Tim Southee to become the highest wicket-taker in this format on Wednesday, also gave a hint about making some adjustments in the playing XI the final match during the post-match presentation of the second game.
Among the 14 players in the current squad, wicketkeeper-batsman Jaker Ali and leg-spinner Rishad Hossain are yet to make their international debut while pacer Shoriful Islam last played a T20I back in November last year against India during an ICC T20 World Cup in Adelaide.
Meanwhile, the touring Ireland side will be looking to finish the series with respectable results as they are yet to win any match during their ongoing tour of Bangladesh.
Ireland suffered a 0-2 series defeat in the preceding three-match ODI series before they lost the T20I series.
On completion of the T20I series, the teams will travel to Dhaka to play the first-ever Test between the two sides, scheduled for April 4-8 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
