UNB, Dhaka :
Bangladesh team probably enjoyed the best two days of their Test cricket in New Zealand so far.
The initial success came up when they removed the last five New Zealand batters within 70 runs on top of their day one total and restricted them under 350. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and Shoriful Islam proved their capibilty once again.
And now, they batted more than 150 overs and scored more than 400 runs and they are yet to be all out!
At the end of day three of the first Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui, Bangladesh are leading by 73 runs with four wickets in hand— a rare success Bangladesh team is going through on the soil of New Zealand.
Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mominul Haque and Liton Das— all had a good chance to register their maiden century in New Zealand, but they fell short. Despite that agony, Bangladesh are far ahead of the hosts in this Test, at least, at this stage.
Mominul and Liton added 158 runs in the fifth wicket stand. The stand was broken when Mominul fell for 88— short of 12 runs of his second Test century abroad. His first away ton came against Sri Lanka last year.
Bangladesh ended day two at 175 for two with Joy and Mominul remaining unbeaten for 70 and eight respectively.
Joy fell for 78 after adding only eight to his overnight total while Mominul remained firm at the other end of the wicket.
It was Joy’s maiden fifty in Test cricket. Before this match, he played only one Test. The 21-year-old batter was one of the best in the world during his U-19 cricketing days. He had a century in the last U-19 World Cup that Bangladesh won beating India in the final.
Mushfiqur Rahim failed to impress as he fell for 12 off 53 balls.
In the next wicket stand, Liton joined Mominul and made New Zealand bowlers toil. Mominul registered his 15th fifty in Test, and right after that, Liton recorded his 11th fifty in the format.
After Mominul, Trent Boult also removed Liton for 86. One ball earlier of his dismissal, Liton survived a caught-behind appeal from New Zealand, but eventually, he fell prey to the same kind of dismissal.
The onus was on Yasir Ali and Mehidy Hasan Miraz to survive the day playing all the remaining overs, and they successfully did that. This pair batted more than 10 overs and survived the day ensuring a 73-run first innings lead.
New Zealand bowlers tried everything they could. They posed many tough questions they possibly could, and to utter surprise for many, the Bangladeshi batters managed to answer.
They managed to tackle pace-swingings and bouncers from Tim Southee, Boult and Neil Wagner. Wagner came up with his typical strength full with short-balls. But Bangladeshi batters were smart enough to play him despite giving him three wickets. Along with Wagner, Boult bagged three wickets too.
With two days to go in this Test, Bangladesh are clearly ahead of the hosts, but they have to work harder in the remaining six sessions to get the best result against New Zealand.
