Tigers brim with confidence to dominate New Zealand

After dominating New Zealand for the first two days, Bangladesh got a lot of confidence to push them for their first victory on New Zealand soil. Bangladesh haven't yet registered any victory on New Zealand soil in any format of cricket despite playing 32 matches. Confidence stemmed from their pretty good batting and bowling over the last two days, a thing that they could hardly do on New Zealand soil in the past. The Tigers ended the day two on 175-2 and are still trailing by 153 runs but the visitors still hoped for a lead.   

The highlight of Bangladesh's innings was that they could form two big partnerships at the top of the order, which failed to click throughout the last year. "It was a very good partnership. Our top order wasn't getting these partnerships recently, so this has given us a lot of confidence. We have to bat well in the first session tomorrow. I think we have a long way to go," Bangladesh allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz said.  

At the end of the day, young opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy was batting on 70, with captain Mominul Haque on 8.    Shadman and Joy gave Bangladesh a decent start, sharing 43-run after bowlers took the last five wickets of New Zealand for 70 runs to bowl them out for 328. Mehidy took the three of last five wickets to finish with 3-86. Fast bowler Shoriful Islam also took his career-best 3-69.  

Mehidy particularly heaped praise on Joy, who was patient during his 211-ball-stay in the crease. "His innings is definitely a positive sign for our team. His batting definitely helped the team. Joy batted well, took his time. He didn't look like he was a new player. He adjusted well to the conditions and situation," Mehidy added. "He is a member of the Under-19 World Cup-winning team [in 2020]. He did well in South Africa last year, and also made runs in domestic cricket before coming into the senior side. I think he has a lot to give to Bangladesh. The whole team has appreciated his batting," said Mehidy who also came through Under-19 system.  

Najmul Hossain Shanto was the other notable scorer with 64 but most importantly he utilized the platform well, provided by the openers. He and joy shared 104-run for the second wicket stand. "Joy and Shadman gave us a nice platform. It was handy for me. When I joined Joy at the crease, we just focused ball-by-ball, over-by-over and then on to the number of hours," Shanto said. "We didn't want to force the issue. We didn't set big goals, like runs or overs. Joy batted well, but I think it would have been a better day had I remained unbeaten at the end too."