BAN vs NZ | Needed this win to keep the legacy of Test cricket alive in Bangladesh, says Mominul Haque after victory over New Zealand
Mominul Haque scored 88 runs in the first innings of the series opener against New Zealand
|After Bangladesh registered a historic Test victory against New Zealand, Mominul Haque has said that his team needed to win the fixture to keep the legacy of Test cricket alive in their country. Bangladesh won the first fixture by eight wickets and claimed their maiden Test win in New Zealand.
Bangladesh outplayed New Zealand in the first Test of the two-match series, and registered their maiden Test victory in the country. The visitors dominated the Black Caps in all fields in the first Test, and won the fixture by eight wickets. With the victory, Bangladesh have become the first Asian side to beat New Zealand in their own backyard in Test cricket since Pakistan’s 10-wicket victory in Hamilton in January 2011.
Reflecting on beating the World Test Champions in the series opener, Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque said that the win was needed to keep the legacy of Test cricket alive in their country.
''I cannot express my feelings in words as it is unbelievable. To be honest, I could not sleep last night thinking what will happen today. We needed to win this Test match to keep the legacy of Test cricket (alive in our country),'' Mominul said in the post-match presentation.
''I think this is an indication that we are improving as a Test nation. After the Pakistan series, everyone was eager to do well in Tests and it was reflected in all three departments. Everyone helped each other and the coaching staff was extremely supportive. Mushfiq bhai was the most experienced and he was the most involved and spoke with me a lot. He is a very emotional guy and helped me a lot as I am a young captain. We get the result when we play as a team and that was important.”
The first innings was the decisive point for Bangladesh as they claimed a 130-run lead after the end of the first innings. Bangladesh bowlers displayed a brilliant bowling performance throughout the first Test, and they bundled out the hosts for a meagre total of 169 in the second innings.
Haque reckoned that his bowlers exploited the moisture very well, and the Bangladesh batsmen played their best to script the historic Test victory in New Zealand.
''For the last two years, we could not do well in Tests. It's a result due to a team performance. The bowlers did extremely well in the first innings by exploiting the moisture and they did well in the second innings as well. The batsman did extremely well too,” he explained.
''I just told the bowlers that we need to bowl like the way we did on the fourth day and we will not go for the wickets. You can say that if we don't go for wickets then how we will get them out? The plan was that we cannot leak runs while going for the wickets. We just wanted to put pressure on them and if the result comes, it is fine.”
Ebadot Hossain bowled remarkably well for visitors finishing with impressive figures of 6/46 in the second innings. Haque revealed that he wasn’t surprised by his performance as Hossain was working on his bowling very hard for the last three years.
''For the last two to three years, Ebadot is working very hard. He was a volleyball player for the Air Force. Our coaching staff worked with him, so that he can bowl in the right areas. We were expecting something like this from him. So I am not surprised. For the last two to three years, our bowling coach worked hard with him and it is the result of his hard work,” he stated.
The opening pair of Bangladesh tackled the new ball very well in the first innings. While Shadman Islam was dismissed on 22, Mahmudul Hasan Joy scored 78 runs. Haque praised both the openers saying that the batsmen provided a good start to the visitors.
''I cannot say where I will rate my innings, but the two new ball bowlers of New Zealand are very dangerous. The way Joy played, he showed that he will be the superstar of tomorrow while Shadman helped in seeing off the shine of the ball,” he concluded.
