Mount Maunganui (New Zealand): Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque thought he would be labeled “crazy” if he even mentioned his team’s ambition to win Test matches in New Zealand. Therefore, it was not surprising when he lost to describe how it felt when Bangladesh trailed one of their biggest Test victories at the picturesque Bay Oval here on Wednesday.
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After going to bed at the end of the fourth and final day of play, the tourists had a real chance to write history, but Mominul still could not sleep. “I can’t describe it, it’s unbelievable. I couldn’t sleep yesterday because of the pressure,” Mominul told reporters after his team’s eight-wicket win.
“To be honest, we never thought of winning a Test match at all. If I said we were aiming for victory, people would call me a lunatic. Our aim was to prepare well and play according to the procedure,” he added. For his number opposite Tom Latham, however, it was a plain and simple surprise at the patience shown by the visitors. Fast bowler Abadot Hossain scored a career-best 6 Taken- 46 as Bangladesh beat world Test champions New Zealand by eight wickets for their first win in New Zealand.
New Zealand vs Bangladesh, 1st Test, Day 5 Highlights
Abadot had taken Bangladesh to the brink of a famous victory by the end of the fourth day when he had figures of 4-39. He added to his tally on the fifth morning as New Zealand were bowled out for 169 in their second innings, their lowest score against Bangladesh.
“I told the bowlers that we need to bowl like we did on the fourth day and we will not go for wickets. You can say if we don’t go for wickets then how will we get them out?” Mominul said. “The plan was that we can’t leak runs for wickets. We just wanted to put pressure on them and if the result comes, that’s fine,” he said. Chasing 40 runs to script a memorable win, Bangladesh lost two wickets to reach the target, with Mominul And former captain Mushfiqur Rahman got the job done. The result ended New Zealand’s 17-match run without a loss on home soil. “Winning this Test match was very important. Two years ago, we didn’t play that much Test cricket, That’s why we wanted to improve.
“I think it was a team performance, we did very well in all three departments. Our bowlers used the moisture really well and the batsmen did really well. I said earlier that we need to win this Test match for our legacy. Mominul said, “We did not pay much attention to the results of the Test matches, we tried to focus on the process.” The second Test of the two-match series will be played from January 9 at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. 13, and the home team will be eager to come back strongly and restore parity. Latham, who led New Zealand in the game, was left with two missed opportunities for his team after a shocking defeat. He said in the post-match press conference that he was surprised by Bangladesh’s performance. “Both (to my surprise), the way he was able to bat for long and the way he operated with the ball. It was a passionate performance. He had every opportunity he had when the game was on the line,” Latham said. he said. “They will be excited when we go to Hagley Oval[for the next game]so it will be important that we stay as a group and train well and give the game a tough fight at Hagley Oval.” He said that he wants the bowlers to target the stumps more in the next Test. “We could have attacked the stumps a little more. The ball was swinging, but we haven’t played too many games here (Bay Oval). It was just the third Test here and we didn’t know much whether we could have played a bit earlier. Could have been tougher.” ,
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