Bangladesh edge closer to series lead after Taijul four-fer

A rampant Bangladesh edged closer to a series lead in Sylhet after New Zealand suffered a collapse with the bat in the run-chase on the fourth day. Taijul Islam was the star man for the home side as he picked up four wickets to reduce New Zealand to 113/7, before stumps were called early as a result of bad light. With only three wickets in hand, the visitors still need 219 runs for an unlikely win on the final day.

Chasing 332 on a turning track was never going to be easy for New Zealand. That task became a lot harder when they allowed a pacer to strike early. Shoriful Islam found the outside edge of Tom Latham to get rid of him for a duck in the very first over. Kane Williamson, who hit a century in the first innings, began in style with two boundaries in Mehidy Hasan’s first over but Taijul got the big fish by bowling one that slid past the inside edge to trap the batter in front. That massive wicket put New Zealand under severe pressure. Henry Nicholls was the next to depart as he got a top edge while attempting to sweep Mehidy.

At 30/3, the visitors badly needed a partnership to calm the dressing room. While they went into the Tea break without losing another wicket, they were always under the pump with Bangladesh consistently creating half-chances. More often than not, a period of play like that results in a wicket as Devon Conway’s 76-ball resistance came to an end when he inside-edged one to the short-leg fielder. Bangladesh then took complete control of the Test when Tom Blundell became Taijul’s third victim of the innings.

From thereon, New Zealand needed pretty much something extraordinary to pull off an unlikely win. Even those slim chances disappeared when Glenn Phillips was trapped lbw by Nayeem Hasan. The procession continued with only Daryl Mitchell waging a lone battle at one end. Bad light then brought an early end to proceedings but the hosts will fancy their chances of completing a massive win.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand were buoyed by the wicket of overnight centurion Najmul Shanto, who was strangled down the leg side by Tim Southee. However, Mushfiqur Rahim completed his half-century and Shahadat Hossain made an aggressive start dealing in boundaries to maintain the pressure on the visitors. Ish Sodhi then got rid of Shahadat before he could cause further damage. New Zealand kept chipping away at one end from thereon but Mehidy’s fighting fifty squashed their hopes of keeping the target below 300.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 317 & 113/7 (Daryl Mitchell 44*; Taijul Islam 4/40) need another 219 runs vs Bangladesh 310 & 338 (Najmul Shanto 105, Mushfiqur Rahim 67; Ajaz Patel 4/148)