Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam had justly arrived to the press conference at Sylhet International Stadium on Sunday as the home team bowler secured his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests with six Zimbabwe wickets to give Bangladesh momentum. The occasion was however marred by a horrific Bangladesh batting collapse to as the hosts were bundle for just 143 runs on the board and they now find Zimbabwe with a 140-run lead in the second innings at stumps on day two.
The focus had heavily shifted to Bangladesh’s catastrophic batting display to a lower ranked side and Taijul, rather than celebrating his milestone, found himself surrounded by questions on the batting failure.
Taijul, who has featured in 20 Test matches for Bangladesh explained Test cricket to be a game of records and is confident of his team to make a comeback despite being far behind the opposition in the game.
Chatara: ODI batting style led to their downfall https://t.co/Jgt2FldUcH#Zimbabwe pacer Tendai #Chatara believes #Bangladesh’s ODI style batting helped Zimbabwe inflict damage in the ongoing first #Test of the two-match series at the #Sylhet International Stadium (SIS).
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) November 4, 2018
“Test cricket is game of records. You will find the biggest records in the game coming from Test cricket. We also want that to happen. We want Bangladesh to set a record of making a great comeback,” said Taijul to the media at SIS on Sunday.
Bangladesh has been dealing with batting issues in Tests for a long time now. The occasion was the seventh time this year when the side got all-out in an innings for less than 200 runs. Earlier, it was in Bangladesh’s tour of West Indies this year where the Tigers had to swallow a series whitewash and batting failures was the chief reason.
“There is no short of confidence in the batsmen. We have won against the big teams before the West Indies tour. It is just that today (Sunday) was not our day and such things can happen in one or two series’. It is not that this game is over. We still have three days in hand and hopefully we will be able to make it count,” Taijul tried to justify.
In-form @ZimCricketv batsman Sean Williams said his side are looking at a total between 300 to 350 runs, in the first innings of the first Test match against host @BCBtigers.https://t.co/X01bfdHdEv#BANGLADESHCRICKET #BANGLADESH #CRICKET #ZIMBABWE #ZIMBABWECRICKET #BCBTIGERS
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) November 3, 2018
Taijul was key to Bangladesh’s attack with his six-wicket haul and justified his side’s claim of the wicket at SIS to go in favor of the spinners. Nine off the 10 Zimbabwe wickets had come from the spinners. Taijul however has put hold to his milestone celebration, given the situation the team is in. The last five-wicket haul for Taijul in the format had come almost three years back, against Pakistan in Khulna in 2015.
“You always feel good about such performances. You do not get five or six wickets every day. But I would like to see my achievement with team in the perspective of the match. I will feel happy about it if the team finishes this game well,” Taijul informed.
