Ireland were narrowly defeated in the second T20 International of their three-match series with Bangladesh in Chattogram.
After winning the toss, Ireland elected to bat first, looking to repeat their batting heroics from Thursday.
Paul Stirling (29 off 14 balls) and Tim Tector (38 off 25 balls) got Ireland off to a fast-paced start despite losing Stirling towards the end of the fifth over.
The visitors continued to find the boundaries regularly and were 75-1 at the end of the first powerplay – Ireland's third-highest powerplay score in T20Is.
Harry Tector (11) joined his brother Tim at the fall of Stirling, and the pair put on 31 in 23 balls before Mahedi Hasan was introduced and immediately removed both Tectors and Ben Calitz (7).
From 88-1, Ireland found themselves at 103-4 and in need of a stabilising partnership.
Lorcan Tucker (41 from 32 balls) and George Dockrell (18 off 21 balls) put on 56 for the fifth wicket – providing a solid platform to launch in the death overs, but some clever bowling, particularly by Mustafizur Rahman, restricted that hoped-for final-over thrust, and Ireland finished on 170-6 from their 20 overs.
It appeared that the Bangladeshi batters decided they would need to take the attack to the Irish bowlers early on, and under the lights with a heavy dew settling on the outfield, that’s exactly what they did.
Parvez Hossain (42) and Tanzid Hassan (7) took 26 from the first 15 balls, until Tanzid was run out by an inspired effort by Barry McCarthy.
The big Pembroke man ran towards short cover to field the ball off his own bowling. After tumbling to make the stop, McCarthy sprang to his feet and fired a direct-hit throw at the stumps, with Tanzid caught short of the crease.
With Bangladesh at 86-1, leg-spinner Gareth Delany induced a false shot by Hossain, who was caught by Dockrell at point.
Bangladeshi captain Litton Das (57 off 37 balls) then set about ensuring his side didn’t repeat the mistakes of the last match and blasted a 35-ball half-century to have the home side needing just 33 off the last 30 balls to win.
The game had a few twists left. Ireland grabbed two wickets in three balls to build some late pressure on the Bangladeshi batters – Mark Adair trapping Litton in front, and Delany outfoxing Saif (22 off 17 balls) who was caught at long on by Humphreys – and suddenly the home side looked potentially vulnerable.
With the required run rate once more rising, Mohammad Saifuddin came to the crease and struck 17* from seven balls to help his side sneak over the line with two balls to spare.
Captain Stirling described the early game in Chattogram as "quick" and hailed strong bowling from the Bangladeshis for making the difference in the four-run game.
"That was a great game of cricket and I think everyone here enjoyed the spectacle... It's quite quick early on and it's easier to bat with a new ball and it sort of gets harder as the game progresses and that happened in both innings today," Stirling said.
"I think the difference in the game today was our last four of five overs with the bat where they bowled brilliantly where that's more credit to them than anything against us.
"We needed to pick up wickets at crucial stages and we managed to do that. We got two new batters in a couple of times and that was our chance to strike and we just didn't quite get there in the end."
The third match in the series is on Tuesday, 2 December. (8am Irish time).
Ireland:170-6 (20 overs; L Tucker 41, T Tector 38; M Hasan 3-25)
Bangladesh: 174-6 (19.4 overs; L Das 57; G Delany 2-28, M Adair 2-36)
