Has a towel sparked life back into the Ireland series?

During the 11th over of Bangladesh's chase of 171 in the second T20I against Ireland in Chattogram on Saturday, Litton Das attempted to hit a six, only to be brilliantly caught at deep mid-wicket by Gareth Delany.

Delany ran in and took a sharp one-handed catch right on the edge of the rope. As he landed, he fell backward and instinctively lifted his hand to keep the ball from touching the boundary cushion. His body stayed clear of the rope as he pushed himself back up using the ground and the edge of the cushion.

However, replays showed that although the ball was safely in Delany's hands, a small towel hanging from the back of his trousers had grazed the boundary cushion, prompting the TV umpire to rule Litton not out at 27.

The Bangladesh captain went on to score 57 off 34 balls, a knock that set the hosts on the path to a four-wicket victory that levelled the three-match series 1-1.

Had Delany not had that towel hanging behind him, Litton would have been gone much earlier and the outcome of the match could have been the opposite.

Ireland captain Paul Stirling didn't call Litton's lucky reprieve the turning point, but he did describe it as a "big moment."

"I think it was a big moment. I wouldn't quite call it the turning point, but it's the sort of fine margin that decides matches -- fine as the threads of that towel. It was a brilliant effort."

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Towel touch turns brilliant catch into six for Litton

He also acknowledged that with the win in the second match, the momentum is currently with the hosts.

"Yes, I think momentum is huge in T20 cricket, it will probably be slightly with them now. You've seen how quickly it changes -- about three overs to go, the entire momentum had shifted our way. So, it's massive.

"I think they managed to get rid of whatever went wrong for them in the first game and shake it off for this one, and they did it very well. You saw the difference in their Powerplay compared to the last match. They improved a lot there, and we can look to do the same in the third match."

The third and final T20I will begin at 2:30pm on Tuesday in Chattogram.