Ireland’s hopes of claiming a first Test victory were ended by Bangladesh as the hosts sealed a seven-wicket win on day four of the one-off Test.

The Tigers slipped to 43-2 in pursuit of 138 but Mushfiqur Rahim led his side to victory with a quickfire 51 not out.

It is Ireland’s fourth defeat from four Tests since 2018.

“We showed a lot of grit, especially yesterday. I think we all just enjoyed playing Test cricket again – the ebbs and flows of the game,” said Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie.

“One minute you’re up, one minute you’re down and you have to show a lot of fight, which we did.

“But in the end we didn’t show enough and unfortunately were on the wrong side.”

After hitting the nation’s second Test century on day three, batter Lorcan Tucker said his side were hoping to set a target of 180, having recovered brilliantly from 27-4 at one stage in their second innings.

But any hopes of reaching that mark were effectively ended when Andy McBrine was bowled for 72 by Ebadot Hossain having only added one to his overnight score.

Seamer Hossain then had Graham Hume caught behind by wicketkeeper Litton Das off a thick edge as Ireland were all out for 292.

Opener Das made an aggressive start to Bangladesh’s chase, hitting McBrine for six over mid-wicket in the second over before being bowled by Mark Adair for 23 from 19 balls.

Najmul Hossain Shanto edged McBrine to slip three overs later but Ireland were unable to stop a steady flow of runs.

First-innings centurion Mushfiqur hit his first ball for four and scored at faster than a run a ball, despite the loss of Tamim Iqbal for 31 after he skied a catch off leg-spinner Ben White with 33 still needed.

With the hosts’ target 23 runs away, Tucker missed the chance to stump Mominul Haque and the left-hander ended unbeaten on 20 alongside Mushfiqur.

The win ends a run of eight defeats and one draw in Tests for Bangladesh since victory over New Zealand in January last year.

Ireland play two Tests against Sri Lanka later this month.