Bangladesh gains ground on the series after Taijul’s four-fer

2023.12.01

Taijul takes four wickets as Bangladesh closes in on win against New Zealand after Day 4

In the first Test of the series, Bangladesh was drawing closer to victory as left-arm spinner Taijul Islam amassed 4-40 and tore through New Zealand’s batting order on Friday.

In the first Test of the series, Bangladesh was drawing closer to victory as left-arm spinner Taijul Islam amassed 4-40 and tore through New Zealand’s batting order on Friday.cricknfo

Day 4 ended with New Zealand down to 113-7 at stumps, needing 332 to win.

Daryl Mitchell finished the day with 44 after batting patiently, with Ish Sodhi at 7. Devon Conway, the opener, was the only other batter to muster an oppositional total of 22.

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Tom Latham’s bad run was prolonged by pacer Shoriful Islam, who dismissed him for a six-ball duck in the opening over. Meanwhile, on a wicket that was getting worse, Kane Williamson was unable to add to his opening-inning century. Williamson gave Mehidy Hasan a couple of boundaries early on, but Taijul kept him off balance by changing the pace, eventually trapping him for eleven runs. Williamson did a fruitless review.

The next to go was Henry Nicholls, who top-edged a slog-sweep at short fine leg for two off Mehidy to Nayeem Hasan.

Before Taijul had him caught by Shahadat Hossain at short leg, Conway was playing with a positive intent as wickets were falling all around him. He skillfully swept the spinners to keep the scoreboard moving.

The onus was on Mitchell with New Zealand at 46-4, but he received little assistance from the other end.

After Taijul stifled wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell (6) and he edged a turning delivery behind, Nayeem successfully reviewed to remove Glenn Phillips, further containing the visitors.

After Taijul defeated Kyle Jamieson 7 to 1, Bangladesh appeared to be cruising toward victory on day four.

But before the poor light forced stumps, Mitchell and Sodhi made it through a challenging thirty minutes.

Bangladesh was earlier bowled out in their second innings for 338. Bangladesh lost wickets one after the other, with Najmul Hossain Shanto adding just one run to his overnight total before being removed for 105.

Mehidy Hasan’s fifty runs without a wicket helped the team surpass 300.

After a 98-run fourth-wicket stand, the hosts ended Day 4 on 212-3 when Tim Southee trapped Shanto down the leg side in the second over.

After a 98-run fourth-wicket stand, the hosts ended Day 4 on 212-3 when Tim Southee trapped Shanto down the leg side in the second over.

Mushfiqur Rahim persisted, hitting an outside edge two against Southee to raise his 27th Test half-century off 79 balls. However, when left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel trapped him in front for 67, he was unable to make it to a century.

Ish Sodhi, a leg spinner, defeated Shahadat Hossain (18) to reveal Bangladesh’s lower order, which was unable to maneuver around Mehidy.

Bangladesh managed to lose the final three wickets for 27 runs, but that was sufficient to give New Zealand a difficult task.

After conceding a 7-run lead after being dismissed for 310 in the first innings, the home team managed to reach 317 all out.

@charith