Grant Elliott, a former cricketer from New Zealand, arrived at the media center after analyzing the match. He jokingly asked a few journalists, “Didn’t you guys arrive late?” To which, one journalist humorously replied, “We have faith in the batsmen.” Elliot amusingly responded, “So, you have faith in the batsmen themselves?”
Elliott’s jest held some truth! In the Sylhet Test, yesterday, Taijul Islam and Shariful Islam ended Bangladesh’s runs by taking three wickets each, concluding the first day. Expectations were for them to add more runs together today, bringing Bangladesh’s total runs closer to three figures.
However, on the second day itself, Tim Southee, the New Zealand skipper, dismissed Shariful with the first ball. Bangladesh was all out for 310 runs in 85.1 overs. Mahmudul Hasan scored the highest for Bangladesh with 86 runs. Playing 166 balls, he managed to hit 11 boundaries, marking his fourth fifty in Test cricket.
The other top-order batsmen, Najmul Hossain and Mominul Haque, contributed equal runs, scoring 37 each. Apart from Taijul Islam, who remained not out at 8 runs, all the batsmen in the batting order were out in the double digits. New Zealand’s best bowler in the innings was Glenn Phillips. With figures of 5 for 53 in 16 overs, this all-rounder delivered the best performance of his career in terms of wickets taken. Kyle Jamieson and Ajaz Patel took 2 wickets each.
