It was the day of the debutants in Sylhet. Cade Carmichael, 23, and Jordan Neill, 19, provided a glimpse into Ireland's future while 24-year-old Hasan Murad showed why he's a highly-rated left-arm spinner in Bangladesh domestic cricket. Australian umpire Sam Nogajski also made a sound start to his Test career as an umpire.
At the end of the first day's play, there was no discussion about Nogajski, which should serve as good news for the debuting umpire. The three rookie players headlined the day with their strong first impressions.
Carmichael scored 59 off 129 balls from No.3 while Neill made 30 off 60 balls from No.8. Murad, meanwhile, returned 2 for 47 in his 20 overs.
Carmichael proved the perfect foil for the aggressive Paul Stirling during their 96-run partnership. He struck the ball sweetly to go with some flourish in his followthrough. Ireland then suffered a middle-order slump but despite wickets falling at the other end, Neill batted confidently.
Gary Wilson, the Ireland batting coach, said that both Carmichael and Neill earned their places in the Test side.
"I think they're both very, very exciting talents," Wilson said. "I think that they both performed well. They acquitted themselves very well in Test-match cricket and showed good method at times. They dealt with some pretty good bowling upfront from Bangladesh. I think they can be relatively pleased with their Test debuts."
Carmichael was born in South Africa where he attended Kearsney College, known for producing international cricketers like Andrew Hudson, Kyle Abott and Chad Bowes. Carmichael, however, played most of his formative cricket in Ireland. He was impressive in his lead-up to the ODI debut in May this year, before he made many others sit up and take notice of his talent in his first foray into Test cricket in Sylhet.
Like Carmichael, Neill was born in South Africa but played most of his formative cricket in Ireland.
"I think they're the future, but I also think that they're the now. They are playing on their own merit," Wilson said. "Cade has come off the back of heavy scoring in domestic. He has good attributes that we like. He looked very accomplished on his ODI debut against West Indies earlier in the year.
"[Carmichael] is someone that we have high hopes for. He looks like a very good player. He is only 23. Jordan is only 20 [19]. They are both players for the future and hopefully they can go and have long careers, but they're also players for the right now."
As for Murad, he showcased his accuracy and flight, skills that have fetched him a bagful of domestic wickets, when he dismissed Curtis Campher and Lorcan Tucker. Murad is one of only three bowlers to take 150 first-class wickets in Bangladesh since 2021, the others being the Test bowlers Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan.
"I thought [the Bangladesh spinners] bowled accurately," Wilson said. "It didn't spin a huge amount in the first couple of sessions and then we began to see more spin towards the end of the day. They made us play if we wanted to take an attacking option. There wasn't many freebies on board. They made us work for our runs."
Murad faces stiff competition from Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz who are Bangladesh's first choice spinners in home Tests while Nayeem has been their designated understudy since 2018. There's also hope that wristspinner Rishad Hossain will make the step-up to Test cricket soon while the likes of Nasum Ahmed and Tanvir Islam are white-ball regulars.
Bangladesh, though, need to prepare for life after Taijul, who will turn 34 next February. They are already without Shakib Al Hasan for more than a year, so now it's time to look into the future and groom Murad.