Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam enjoyed hitting the winning boundary for Bangladesh more than his record-breaking bowling figure of 8-39 after it helped Bangladesh overcome a jittery to post a three-wicket win over Zimbabwe on Monday. Bangladesh were struggling at 82-7 in pursuit of 101 runs when Taijul arrived as Zimbabwe were sniffing an unexpected win having already dismissed Bangladesh’s most of the top-order batsmen.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim was left alone at the crease looking for some badly needed support when Taijul came into bat with an experience of just two Test matches under his belt.
Despite his limited experience, Taijul was not intimidated and played his natural game in a way that would make any top order Bangladesh batsman proud.
His batting convinced Mushfiq that the 22-year spinner would be able to handle the pressure, so he decided not to keep him off the strike and rather concentrated on protecting his own wicket.
True to believe of his skipper, Taijul dominated their 19-run eighth wicket stand to score 15 not out. He pulled Elton Chigumbura for a square-leg boundary to bring the win, a fitting reward for someone who earlier almost single-handedly bowled Zimbabwe out for 114 runs to create the chance.
‘It was more pleasing to score the winning shot,’ Taijul told the reporters at post match briefing. ‘It is always nice to contribute for the team.’
While Taijul’s batting ability was unknown to many, his grown up maturity as a spinner is known by everyone.
Taijul claimed the highest 37 wickets in the Bangladesh Cricket League for North Zone that finally brought him to the spotlight, resulting gradual call-up in Bangladesh A team and national team.
The man from Natore claimed five wickets on his Test debut against the West Indies and after somewhat subdued performance at pace friendly wicket of St Lucia he returned to his own self on his home debut.
Though, Sakib al Hasan took maximum wickets in the first innings but it was Taijul gave Bangladesh the crucial breakthroughs before making the second innings completely of his own and surpassed Sakib in the record books.
Taijul’s 8-39 is now the best bowling figure in an innings for Bangladesh in a Test surpassing Sakib’s 7-36 against New Zealand in Chittagong in 2008.
‘As I could not bowl well in the first innings I gave a good thought over it,’ said Taijul.
‘So, I knew that I needed to do well because there is big fight for a place in the team. I went on thinking over it and thankfully succeeded’, Taijul added.
The soft-spoken left-arm bowler also said that he is ready to bowl at any surface because he is satisfied with his simple bowling tactics.
‘It does not matter how the wickets behave. The important thing is that you have to bowl in the right place,’ said Taijul.
-With New Age input
