Ireland snapped a 14-month winless streak by defeating Bangladesh in the opening game of their three-match T20I series in Chattogram on Thursday.
Put it in to bat first, Ireland posted a challenging 181/4, courtesy a stroke-filled unbeaten 69 off 45 balls by Harry Tector. They backed it up with a solid bowling performance to restrict Bangladesh to 142/9 at the Bir Sreshtho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Stadium.
Matthew Humphreys (4-13) and Barry McCarthy (3-23) were the standout bowlers for the visitors, while Towhid Hridoy waged a lone battle for Bangladesh with an unbeaten 50-ball 83.
Humphreys was named man of the match.
The 39-run win marked Ireland's first victory in T20Is since defeating South Africa by 10 runs in Abu Dhabi in September 2024.
It will be a huge confidence booster for the European side who are gearing up for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February 2026.
Ireland is drawn in Group B alongside Australia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Oman in the showpiece event.
"We turned up really well today, and that's as close to a full-strength team as we've had in a long time," Skipper Paul Stirling said after the match.
"We welcomed back some senior figures, and it showed today as we came out on top. There's never a perfect game, I don't think. But in terms of the first 35 overs of the game, I thought we were excellent, and there aren't many places I can really pick holes in."
Ireland can clinch the series with a victory in the second match on Saturday, and Stirling is confident his side can do it.
"We've got two more goes to hopefully get a series win. I think we won our last game here (in 2023) as well, so we've sort of got two on the bounce, so we're taking that momentum into the third."
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