Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam claimed a match haul of 10 wickets to bowl Bangladesh to a comprehensive 150-run victory against New Zealand in the opening test in Sylhet on Saturday. Chasing 332 for victory on a turning track, New Zealand headed into the final day on a precarious 113- 7 against a spin-heavy Bangladesh attack on a dry and turning pitch. Overnight batter Daryl Mitchell (58) completed his fifty and skipper Tim Southee (34) staged a brief rearguard but Bangladesh needed 90 minutes on the final day to wrap up victory and go 1-0 up in the two-test series. It was a memorable win for a depleted Bangladesh side missing several frontline players through injuries, including regular captain Shakib Al Hasan, against a full-strength New Zealand side. Taijul claimed 6-75 in the second innings and was the obvious choice for the player-of-the-match award.

We were not thinking about the result, we just followed our process, stand-in Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said after their first test win on home soil against New Zealand. The job is half done, we still have a long way to go. Batting fourth on a turning track in the sub-continent counts among the game greatest challenges and New Zealand  frontline batters failed the trial by spin on Friday. Only Mitchell had looked assured facing the spinners with a shoal of fielders around his bat and once his slog-sweep against Nayeem Hasan found Taijul at backward square, the game was all but over for New Zealand. Southee was not prepared to go down with a fight though as he smashed a couple of sixes, while Ish Sodhi (22) also resisted for a while before Taijul removed both. Very disappointed, but credit to Bangladesh, they play really well as a side in these conditions, Southee said afterwards. Our bowling group needs to create pressure for longer, batters need to stitch more partnerships, be better for longer. The final test begins in Mirpur on Wednesday.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)