Charged-up Bangladesh seek to build on lead

Overview

Ireland v Bangladesh
3rd ODI
The Village, Dublin
Thursday, 9 May; 10:45am local time, 9:45am GMT

Bangladesh were clinical against West Indies, pulling things back admirably after the Windies had cruised to 205/2. The bowlers, led by skipper Mashrafe Mortaza, struck crucial breakthroughs to restrict them to 261/9.

The chase couldn't have gone smoother for Bangladesh as they tracked down the target with eight wickets and five overs to spare. Tamim Iqbal broke a string of low scores to a craft a solid 80 up the order, while Soumya Sarkar scored a fluent 73.

Shakib Al Hasan too was among the runs, making a run-a-ball 61. Overall, Bangladesh couldn't have asked for too much more in the match. They face off with Ireland, who have won only one of their last four one-day internationals and were handed a sound 196-run thrashing by West Indies in the opener.

Ireland's bowling has lacked penetration, except on seam-friendly pitches, and that's an area they need to address as a priority. In the batting department, they need consistency from senior men like William Porterfield, Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie, among others.

Players to watch

Kevin O'Brien (Ireland): The batting all-rounder was the lone half-centurion for Ireland in the match against Windies. He is an impact player, and if he can get another big score, he could well motivate the rest of the team as well, and Ireland's frail batting could desperately use the fillip.

Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh): One of the few all-rounders in the world who can make the team on back of either his batting or bowling independently, Shakib is going to be key to Bangladesh's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 chances. To gear up for that, he'll want to gather steam beforehand. He already excelled in both departments in the match against Windies, and will look to maintain that momentum when he takes on Ireland.

Conditions

It's going to be chilly and cloudy with a strong possibility of rain. The pitch at The Village tends to offer prodigious lateral movement when there's cloud cover. Seamers on both sides will be licking their lips.

Squads

**Ireland:**William Porterfield (c), Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson

**Bangladesh:**Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (c), Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Jayed Rahi, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Yasir Ali, Nayeem Hasan