Bangladesh are on the verge of winning the first Test at home against New Zealand. Tigers need three more wickets on the last day (Saturday) to defeat New Zealand and secure their first ever win in a Test match against them on home ground.
The Kiwis need 219 more runs to save the match. Only Daryl Mitchell remains the last recognized batsman for the visitors.
Tigers’ spinner Taijul Islam played a leading role with the ball in the Sylhet Test. After taking four wickets in the first innings, he also collected the same number of wickets in the second innings at the end of the fourth day. Basically, the Kiwi batters were rattled by this bowler throughout the match.
After coming to the press conference at the end of the fourth day, Taijul said that beating a big team is fun. 'Of course, the fun of beating a big team is different. We haven't won yet, but we are trying our best and will continue to do so tomorrow too, in sha Allah. I think when you beat a big team, it increases your confidence.'
Bangladesh team started the new cycle of Test Championship with this match against the Kiwis. Taijul feels that a win in this match will increase team’s confidence for the whole year. 'Our plan is that the way we performed in the first match of the Test Championship, we want to play with that confidence for the whole year. However, we don't know how many matches we will win or not. But I want to contribute something good to Bangladesh.'
Regarding Bangladesh's goal in the Test Championship, Taijul also said, 'We don’t want to talk much; we want to prove our performance on the pitch. Every team has goals, and players have individual goals. Those kinds of goals will remain. If we can come up as the third, fourth, or fifth best team on the table, then that will be a big achievement for us.'
Regarding the match, Bangladesh won't complain much. They are calling all the shots and will come back fresh to take the remaining three wickets quickly in the morning. Taijul once again stood tall with the ball. He received good support from the others. New Zealand in the end will be really disappointed with the way they fell apart to spin.
