NZ vs BAN | 1st Test, Day 2: Joy, Shanto bring Bangladesh in dreamy situation after bowlers' hard work

A 103-run partnership between Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Najmul Hossain Shanto has put Bangladesh in a position that they could have only dreamt of before starting the Test series against the hosts New Zealand. 

Before their partnership, Joy has had a decent opening partnership with Shadman Islam to make Bangladesh look like a formidable Test side. 

The trio batted with impeccable patience for the large part of their stays at the crease and was rewarded with fortunate moments when they committed small mistakes which are bound to happen against the bowling attack comprising of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson.

Wagner turned out to be the saviour for the Blackcaps once again and proved the old saying about him that he makes things happen true. He got Shadman Islam caught and bowled on a leg-stump half volley that a batsman would hit for a boundary on nine out of 10 occasions.

Blackcaps pacers were not poor neither in their planning nor in execution and the only thing they could be disappointed about themselves will be their inability to force Bangladesh players to play a lot more than they did on the second day.

At the end of the day, Bangladesh had worked their way to 175/2 and with just 1553 runs away from New Zealand’s first innings total of 328 runs. Eight wickets can fall quickly against a full-strength Blackcaps attack but that can’t take away the patience and discipline in both batting and bowling Bangladesh have shown on the first two days of the Test.

Earlier on the second day, they wiped out the New Zealand lower-order batting order quite quickly before they could form troubling partnerships between them. 

Rachin Ravindra was the first man to go and he was caught low in the slips by Shadman Islam to give Shoriful Islam his third wicket of the innings. 

Henry Nicholls hit a brilliant 75 to form the glue that held the Blackcaps batting together and he forged good partnerships with first Jamieson and then Southee but both the right-handers fell into the traps laid by Mehidy Hasan Miraz to give Bangladesh real opportunity in the game.

Bangladesh would be hoping Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who is batting unbeaten on 70 runs would go on and make a big hundred on the third day of the Test while others rise to the occasion and at least come closer to or surpass the Blackcaps’ first innings total. If they can manage to pull off 153 runs more, they can create some trouble for the Blackcaps with their spinner on a dry-looking pitch in Mount Maunganui.