This was Bangladesh's maiden Test win over New Zealand.
Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque is over the moon after the Tigers’ historic 8-wicket win over the ICC World Test champions New Zealand in the first Test on Wednesday (January 5) at Bay Oval.
With the remarkable win in Tauranga, Bangladesh ended New Zealand’s winning streak of 17 matches on home soil and took a 1-0 lead in the ongoing two-match Test series against the Kiwis with the second and final Test to be played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, from January 9.
After Bangladesh’s “unbelievable” win over New Zealand, Haque revealed that he couldn’t sleep on the fourth day of the match because of the pressure while hailing the team’s complete efforts for the historic win in Tauranga on Wednesday.
Mominul told reporters: “I can’t describe it, it’s unbelievable. I couldn’t sleep yesterday because of the pressure. It was very important to win this Test match. Two years ago, we didn’t play that much Test cricket, so we were keen to improve.”
He continued, “I think it was a team performance, we did very in all three departments. Our bowlers used the moisture really well, and the batters did really well too. I said previously that we need to win these Test matches for our legacy.”
The Bangladesh captain further said that the Tigers were more focused on the process rather than the result, and it paid off greatly against New Zealand in the first Test.
Mominul added, “You have to have a clear mindset, before playing anywhere. If you’re going out of the subcontinent, and you think to yourself that ‘it will be tough,’ then it will be tough. We didn’t focus too much on the result of the Test matches, we tried to focus on the process.”
He also lauded Ebadot Hossain, who took a career-best 6/46 to help the tourists dismiss New Zealand for 169 early on day five at Mount Maunganui, and later, they chased down 40 runs inside 17 overs to win the game by 8 wickets on Wednesday.
The skipper signed off by saying, “He has come from the Air Force and used to be a volleyball player. Our coaching staff did a lot of work to support him and helped him bowl in the right areas, and it was an unbelievable spell from him.”
Brief Scores:
Bangladesh- 458 (Mominul 88, Litton Das 86, Trent Boult 4/85) and 42/2 (Najmul Hossain Shanto 17, Mominul 13*, Mushfiqur Rahim 5*).
New Zealand- 328 (Devon Conway 122, Henry Nicholls 75, Shoriful Islam 3/69, Mehidy Hasan 3/86) and 169 (Will Young 69, Ross Taylor 40, Ebadot Hossain 6/46, Taskin Ahmed 3/36)
(With Reuters Inputs)