Vikrant Shekhawat : Jan 05, 2022, 09:00 AM
Cricket Desk: New Zealand and Bangladesh are up against each other in the first Test of the two-match series where day three of the game was totally owned by visiting batters. Chasing the target of 328 runs, they went on to post a massive 458 on the board. However, as day four unfolded, there came up one review from the visiting nation that left fans amused.Taskin Ahmed was up against Ross Taylor with a full-length delivery and Mominul Haque decided to go with the LBW review at the 11th hour. When the replay came in, the bat clearly hit the middle of the bat and though the boot was close, the ball clearly missed it. The review turned out to be a blunder from visiting nation and this is how they exhausted all their chances in this case.Talkin of day three, Bangladesh batters broke the back of Kiwi bowlers and Liton Das and Haque stood tall with their bats. The team director applauded the team’s efforts and added that day four would be crucial for them and a 150-run lead would give them a great chance. However, the batters remained a little short of that.I always speak with players separately and try to inspire them: Bangladesh team director“Tomorrow morning is very important. We have four wickets. There is Miraj and Yasir and we have a 73-runs lead. If we can get another 70 runs lead then it will be close to 150 runs lead and at that point, we will be in a good position. We want to survive and do well. Even if we cannot win, we want to draw in the Test match. Still, there is 180 overs left and it will be difficult to score runs if we can bowl well,” said Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud after play of day three as quoted by Cricbuzz.“I always speak with them [players] separately and try to inspire them. I just told them that we have lost a match despite declaring at 595 but we cannot always lose. One group must stand up, and why not this group. We need to follow the right process and more importantly play with courage and freedom. There is no ghost here. We had the confidence that we can do it but also had the fear considering this is a young team,” he added.