Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor praised Bangladesh and Shakib al Hasan after an awe-inspiring performance from the ace all-rounder led the hosts to a 162-run win in the fifth day of the second Test at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium yesterday.
Shakib took five wickets in the second innings to go with his five-wicket haul in the first innings as the visitors were skittled out for 151 chasing a competitive 314 for victory in 68 overs. This was only the second time a Bangladesh bowler picked up a 10-wicket haul in Tests. Shakib’s hundred in the first innings also enabled him to join legendary cricketers like Sir Ian Botham and Imran Khan as the only players to have scalped a 10-wicket haul and score a century in the same Test. Following the conclusion of the Test match, Taylor gave credit where it was due.
“We are still looking for the answer. You can’t take the credit away from Shakib, he is a world-class performer. If we batted first, things might have been different. But Bangladesh played better cricket than us and deserved to win. We fought hard for four-and-a-half days and it’s a tough pill to swallow that we got blown away in the last hour or two,” Taylor told the media in the post-match press conference yesterday.
“We were quite happy, we wanted Bangladesh to bat longer. But it proved to be a very good declaration and there was more than enough time to win the game. He (Bangladesh Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim) understands his bowlers and conditions very well.
“If a guy hits a century and takes ten wickets, he is certainly going to be a threat. There were others who were good too. Tamim’s [Iqbal] hundred was really good. They worked well as a team,” he added.
