On Saturday, December 2, Bangladesh created history by defeating New Zealand by 150 runs in the first World Test Championship match held in Sylhet. With Taijul Islam as the star of the show, they won their first-ever Test match against the Kiwis at home. He finished with an outstanding 10-wicket match haul, his 12th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
On the last day, New Zealand was 113/7 and needed to chase an improbable 332 to win. Bangladesh was kept waiting by a strong fifty-eight runs from Daryl Mitchell, but eventually the hosts took the final three wickets to complete the historic victory. Taijul’s superb second-inning stats of 6-75 demonstrated his crucial contribution to the victory.
With Ish Sodhi’s help, Mitchell postponed the inevitable with a 15-over partnership in an effort to obstruct Bangladesh’s chances of winning. But their fight was broken when Mitchell was dismissed, caught at deep backward square leg off Nayeem Hasan.
Sodhi and Tim Southee, the captain of New Zealand, then decided to take an aggressive stance, with Southee striking sixes off Taijul and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Even so, Taijul struck first, getting rid of Southee as he tried to pull, and then took Sodhi’s wicket as Bangladesh concluded the match in the opening session of the last day.
Taijul’s crucial performance on the fourth day, when he dismantled New Zealand’s top order, made it possible for Bangladesh to dominate. Bangladesh finished the job to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, despite Mitchell’s resilience on the last day, which provided a challenge.
The World Test Championship Points Table looks like this, thus following Bangladesh’s victory:
Position | Team | PCT | Points | Won | Lost | Draw | |
1 | Pakistan | 100 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
2 | Bangladesh | 100 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
3 | India |
|
16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
4 | Australia | 30 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
5 | West Indies | 16.67 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
6 | England | 15 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
7 | Sri Lanka | 00 | 00 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
8 | New Zealand | 00 | 00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
9 | South Africa | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |