Ebadot Hossain headlines Bangladesh’s historic Test win

‘January 5, 2022’ The day would be reverberated in Bangladesh’s cricket history for generations to come. In what turned out to be one of those believe-it-or-not moments in the history of Test cricket, Ebadot Hossain ripped through the heart of New Zealand’s batting unit to pick up a six-for and power the visitors to an unforgettable eight-wicket victory against the World Test Champions at Bay Oval. Just for the record, it was their first Test win in New Zealand and also their first Test victory against New Zealand.

As the final day began, New Zealand were already in tatters at 147 for 5 and their hopes of clawing back into the game rested on the shoulders of the veteran Ross Taylor. However, Ebadot shattered New Zealand’s hopes by castling Taylor. He followed up an away-going delivery with the one that nipped back in a touch to sneak through the defence of Taylor. There was also the customary salute from the paceman as Taylor slowly trudged his way back to the pavilion. A lot of Ebadot’s success in the fixture was down to his ability to generate swing with the old ball and how well he used the crease.

It felt like a knockout punch for New Zealand and it didn’t take long for the pace pair of Ebadot and Taskin Ahmed to run through the rest of the lower order. Kyle Jamieson chipped one to midwicket while Rachin Ravindra fell to a tempter outside off. Taskin then cleaned up Tim Southee to make it nine down.

For a while the last pair of Trent Boult and Neil Wagner resisted. Boult also showed a bit of pyrotechnics by cracking a couple of boundaries. However, by then, it was quite clear that it was just a matter of time before Bangladesh would pick up the last wicket. Eventually, it came in the 74th over when Boult holed out to the substitute fielder Taijul Islam at deep midwicket.

Bangladesh did lose Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain in their small chase but a target of 40 was never going to test the Asian nation. It was perhaps a fitting moment that the most experienced cricketer of the side – Mushfiqur Rahim – provided the finishing touches by cracking a cut off Kyle Jamieson. The sun was shining at Mount Maunganui. It was also shining brightly on Bangladesh’s players as the entire setup celebrated on the balcony.

It wasn’t just one cricketer who played a major part in Bangladesh’s historic win. Mominul Haque and Liton Das were also the cornerstones of the victory as the pair shared a crucial alliance of 158 for the fifth wicket in the first innings. Shoriful Islam, Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain, Taskin Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan also made useful contributions.

Meanwhile, New Zealand would rue the fact that they were relatively well-placed at 227 for 3 in the first innings, only to be bowled out for 328. Even in the second innings, the hosts had got into the lead for the loss of just two wickets when Ebadot engineered a collapse.

(Cricbuzz)