Tigers summit Mount Maunganui

Bangladesh cricket team registered a historic win at Mount Maunganui as they defeated New Zealand by eight wickets in the first Test of the Walton Test series on Wednesday. The Tigers previously played 32 international matches in New Zealand against the Blackcaps without a single win. But a superlative performance from pacer Ebadot Hossain helped Bangladesh end the draught.

New Zealand resumed day five with an overnight score of 147-5, and Ebadot in his first over of the morning sent Ross Taylor back, who could have been the biggest threat.

That was the fifth wicket for Ebadot in the second innings, his first five-wicket haul, and first by any Bangladesh pacer since 2013.
In his next over, Ebadot removed Kyle Jamieson, thanks to a fine catch from Shoriful Islam, bringing the former Airman his sixth wicket. Taskin Ahmed soon joined the party by dismissing Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz wrapped up the New Zealand innings by taking the wicket of Trent Boult, who went for a long heave but ended up getting caught on the deep.

New Zealand were all-out for 169 runs in their second innings, leaving a small target of 42 runs for Bangladesh in the fourth innings.
Bangladesh lost one of their regular openers, Mahmudul Hasan, to injury, making room for Najmul Hossain Shanto at the top of the order beside Shadman Islam.

Shadman got out in the second over, but nothing ominous happened as the skipper Mominul Haque held his nerve.
Najmul was looking in control, he scored three boundaries to reach 17 runs, but a sharp one-handed catch by Tylor sent him back to the dressing room.

That brought Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle, who played the winning stroke to secure the historic win for Bangladesh.
This is Bangladesh’s first win against New Zealand in Test cricket, the sixth win away from home, and overall 16th win out of 127 matches.

This is also Bangladesh’s first win in the ICC World Test Championship. The Tigers were winless in the first cycle, and in the second cycle, they secured their first victory by defeating the defending champion, New Zealand on their turf.

Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque said after the match that the victory came as a result of collective effort.

“It was teamwork, everyone was keen to win this match. Everyone put in their support in all departments. We won because of our bowlers, they bowled in the right areas and tried to follow the process as well,” he said in the presentation ceremony.

New Zealand’s stand-in captain Tom Latham admitted that Bangladesh played better in all three aspects of the game,
“We weren’t quite there in all three facets really, Bangladesh certainly showed us how to go about things on that wicket. They were able to build partnerships, apply a lot of pressure, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it for long enough,” he said on Wednesday.

Bangladesh managed to complete almost a herculean task in such a time when all the odds were against them. They lost both Tests at home against Pakistan, they are missing some of the key cricketers in Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, and on top of that, the cricketers were fatigued after a lengthy quarantine.
But Mominul led his men to one of the most difficult tasks with sheer determination, trusted his players, and finally came out victorious where many have failed. No Asian country was able to win a Test in New Zealand in the last 11 years; the last time Pakistan won a Test in New Zealand was in 2011, India in 2009, and Sri Lanka in 2006.
The Tigers successfully breached the Blackcaps fortress after their 17 unbeaten Tests at home. The Mount Maunganui Test was the first home Test for New Zealand after they secured the mace of the World Test Championship.