UNB, Dhaka :
Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mahmudul Hasan Joy hit a fifty each in the ongoing first Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.
At the end of day two, Bangladesh were batting at 175 for two with Joy and captain Mominul Haque remained unbeaten for 70 and eight respectively.
Joy, who got his Test captain in the second Test against Pakistan at home, scored only six in his debut. But coming into bat for the third time in Tests, he notched up his maiden fifty.
Along the way of scoring 70, Joy played 211 balls— the highest by any Bangladeshi openers in New Zealand.
Joy and Shadman Islam added 43 in the opening stand. Shadman fell for 22 off 55 balls, but Joy remained firm at the other end of the wicket. In the second wicket stand, Joy and number three Shanto added 104 runs on the board.
The pair of Joy and Shanto was going well until Neil Wagner bagged his second wicket and removed Shanto. It was an outswinger delivery from Wagner after a barrage of short balls. Shanto’s foot movement was disappointing. He only sent a catch to Will Young.
Joy and Mominul played the last nine overs of the day without any loss.
Joy got a life at 20, but later, he took the advantage and did not give any chance to the hosts’ bowlers.
Earlier, Bangladesh scalped the last five wickets of the hosts inside 70 runs on top of their overnight total of 258 for five. The hosts were ended up at 328 in their first innings of this Test after being sent to bat first losing the toss.
Devon Conway was the highest runs getter for the hosts with his well-composed 122 while Henry Nicholls scored 75 and opener Will Young put 52 on the board.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz led the bowlers on the second day morning. The right-arm spinner bagged three wickets in the first session of the day, while Mominul and Shoriful scalped one each.
Mehidy and Shorfiul ended up taking three wickets each. It was the best bowling for Shorfiul in Tests. He previously played one Test against Sri Lanka.
Restricting the hosts under 350 runs in the first innings, came as a good chance for Bangladesh to end this Test on high.
But as the first step, the Tigers now need to score 153 runs more to pass the first innings total of New Zealand.
