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In Sylhet, Taijul Islam helped Bangladesh defeat New
Zealand by 150 runs by taking six wickets in the second innings to clinch a
10-wicket match haul. It was one of Bangladesh’s greatest Test victories ever.
On the fifth morning, it took the home team 86 minutes
to take the final three wickets of the visitors. Although Taijul claimed two of
the three wickets that fell, New Zealand managed to score 68 runs. New Zealand
required a miracle on the last day to survive after falling behind overnight on
113 for seven, with Daryl Mitchell the only player in the top six to survive
the crushing defeat. Additionally, the pitch’s inconsistent bounce occurred for
the first time throughout the game.
Mitchell completed his ninth Test fifty while keeping
a close eye on things in the morning. However, he was unable to successfully
execute a sweep off Nayeem Hasan, which allowed Taijul to make a sliding catch
midway from deep square leg, ending his resistance.
After 52 deliveries of resistance from Tim Southee and
Ish Sodhi, the match ended when Southee gave Taijul’s delivery a low catch to
midwicket. In his 34 balls, Southee hit two sixes to raise his Test total to
85, surpassing Vivian Richards’ record of 84. He currently stands tenth among
batsmen with the most Test sixes.
The game ended after Ish Sodhi attempted to block a
Taijul delivery that slightly twisted, but foolish mid-off made an easy catch
instead. He had made his 22 off of 91 balls.
Bangladesh currently sits atop the World Test
Championship points standings with 12 points. In Mount Maunganui at the
beginning of 2022, they also triumphed over New Zealand in their lone other WTC
match.
On day four, New Zealand’s chances of winning
dwindled. Tom Latham was barely edging Shoriful’s pitched-up delivery when
Nurul Hasan dove low to his left, taking out the opener for a duck. Williamson
was likely to be crucial to New Zealand’s strategy on the fourth day of play.
He had struck his 29th Test century in the opening innings.
Henry Nicholls attempted a top-edge sweep off Mehidy
Hasan Miraz, but Nayeem Hasan caught him at short fine-leg. It took Devon
Conway almost an hour and twenty-two minutes for him to give Taijul his second
wicket. After the left-hander charged the left-arm spinner, Shahadat Hossain
made the easy catch at short-leg, only managing to get an inside edge onto his
pad. When he played one towards the leg side and the ball took his outside
edge, Tom Blundell appeared to be in trouble right away and didn’t endure for
very long either. After Taijul also caught Kyle Jamieson leg before wicket, the
collapse proceeded in the 35th over when Nayeem trapped Glenn Phillips leg
before wicket for 12.
In the fourth innings, Bangladesh had set New Zealand
a goal of 332 after getting bowled out for 338 runs in their second innings.
Najmul Hossain Shanto’s century had put the hosts in the driver’s seat.