Cheap wickets in key moments took the momentum away from Bangladesh as New Zealand gained an upper hand on the rain-hit opening day of the second Test in Dhaka on Monday.
The Tigers began with a bang, scoring almost at will, before the batsmen threw their wickets to finish the day at 228-5 with bad weather preventing play in the final session.
Tamim Iqbal was at the centre of all disappointment, missing out on a certain century to fall for 95, as the opener paid the price for chasing everything thrown at him.
A rising delivery from Neil Wagner had probably taken Tamim taken by surprise but he still went after it only to manage an edge that flew to Kane Williamson, who took a sharp catch diving to his right.
Tamim lived dangerously right from the start as two catches went down on 5 and 10 and a few edges just missed the fielder, but not this time as Williamson took his catch in third consecutive innings.
Before Bangladesh could absorb the shock they suffered another blow, this time from a very ordinary-looking Ish Sodhi who trapped Sakib al Hasan in front for 20.
No play was possible after Sakib’s dismissal, but New Zealand left the field happily knowing that they have decimated half of Bangladesh’s batting order.
Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten on 14 with Nasir Hossain and Sohag Gazi still to follow though it does not provide any guarantee a big total.
The wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium looked totally different to the one used in Chittagong but it still promises enough runs, an augury for yet another high-scoring Test match.
Bangladesh were hoping to take their first innings total close to around 450 runs to put the visitors under some kind of pressure but that chance now looks bleak as the New Zealand bowlers are already on top.
New Zealand played a gamble brining in Wagner for Bruce Martin and it paid off as the left-hander appeared most threatening among their pace quartet.
He provided a crucial breakthrough at a time when Bangladesh were completely in control with Tamim and Marshall Ayub making a merry of the visiting bowlers.
Anamul Haque was unable to justify his Test selection once again, going down for seven, but Marshall was looking at his sublime best.
The right-hander drove Trent Boult exquisitely for three runs in the first ball he faced before sending the next ball to the cover fence much to the dismay of the New Zealand fielders.
He looked to be in for a big thing having middling almost every ball before Wagner produced a gem of delivery to uproot his off-stump.
Marshall’s departure for 41 had had little impact on Bangladesh’s progress as Mominul Haque continued in the same vein.
But he too wasted his good start, chasing a ball of Corey Anderson wide outside the off-stump to get out for 47. Since then it was the wait for Tamim’s century which was unfortunately never there.
Bangladesh v New Zealand
2nd Test, Day 2 live on
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SCORECARD
Second Test, Day 1
Bangladesh first innings
Tamim c Williamson b Wagner 95
Anamul c Williamson b Boult 7
Marshall b Wagner 41
Mominul c Watling b Anderson 47
Sakib lbw b Sodhi 20
Mushfiq not out 14
Extras (b2,lb1, w1) 4
Total (for 5 wickets, 54.4 overs) 228
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Anamul), 2-90 (Marshall), 3-166 (Mominul) 4-208 ( Tamim), 5-228 ( Sakib)
Bowling
Boult 13 1 50 1
Bracewell 10 0 51 0
Wagner 13 3 42 2
Sodhi 11.4 2 38 1
Williamson 4 0 30 0
Anderson 3 0 14 1
-With New Age input
