A small scheduling tug-of-war has finally settled: Ireland will play two Tests in Bangladesh this November, and that second match – starting 19 November in Mirpur – should take Mushfiqur Rahim to 100 caps. It’s fitting, really. He walked out for his debut as an 18-year-old at Lord’s back in 2005; twenty years on he is set to become the first Bangladeshi to reach the landmark.
Ireland had flirted with replacing the second Test with an ODI series, but both boards have now agreed to stick with the original red-ball plan. The first Test is in Sylhet from 11–15 November, followed by three T20Is (27 and 29 November in Chattogram, 2 December in Dhaka).
Mushfiqur sits on 98 Tests, 6,258 runs and, still proudly, the country’s highest individual score – that unbeaten 219 against Zimbabwe in 2020. Reaching three figures in caps will place him alongside the game’s long-serving wicketkeeper-batters, though it’s worth noting he hasn’t kept in Tests since 2018.
There’s more traffic on Bangladesh’s 2025-26 home calendar. West Indies arrive first for three ODIs (18, 20 and 23 October) and three T20Is (27 and 30 October, 1 November). After the Irish series, December and January are blank on the ICC programme, which almost certainly clears the deck for the Bangladesh Premier League. With a T20 World Cup looming in February, that window should please selectors and franchises alike.
Pakistan and New Zealand are also due in the same season, dates still to be firmed up. It means four visiting sides in roughly six months – not the easiest logistics, especially with weather and political windows to consider, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board seems comfortable enough.
For Ireland, a second Test tour inside two years underlines the board’s push for more multi-day cricket. Their first visit in 2023 ended in a seven-wicket defeat but exposed several promising batters to Asian conditions. Another fortnight in November, Sylhet grass one week, Dhaka dust the next, will only help.
And for Mushfiqur? He has never been much good at the lap of honour stuff – the numbers “will look after themselves”, he keeps saying – yet a century of Tests feels worth pausing for. Whether Bangladesh do anything ceremonial remains to be seen, but fans in Mirpur will know what they’re watching.
