After being whitewashed in the limited-overs series format, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim had said his team needs to replicate their home form overseas. Speaking ahead of the first Test in Wellington, he had said: “Our target would be to bring the home consistency to away Tests. It is time that we prove ourselves in overseas conditions. The batsmen have to take the biggest challenge.
And after the end of second day’s play, it is very safe to say that the Bangladeshi batsmen have stepped up to fulfill their skipper’s demand as they finished on 542 for 7.
Two of their senior-most batsmen, Shakib Al Hasan and Rahim led the way for the visitors. Shakib was the chief architect of the huge score with a well-compiled 217 and was ably supported by his captain, who scored 159.
Shakib and Mominul Haque resumed the day on 154 for 3 and with conditions ideal for batting, they would have backed themselves to give a good start. However, Mominul returned to pavilion even before adding to his overnight score of 64. But the visitors soon recovered from the setback, in fact, they recovered in style as Shakib and Rahim sent the Kiwi bowlers on a leather hunt. The duo added a record-shattering 359 runs for the fifth wicket as several records tumbled at the Basin Reserve on Friday.
The partnership was finally broken when Trent Boult had Rahim caught behind in the post tea session before Shakib chopped a Neil Wagner delivery onto the the stump. The day came to an end when Mehedi Hasan was sent back by Wagner.
Meanwhile, the 359-run partnership is now the highest partnership for Bangladesh for any wicket. The previous highest partnership for any wicket for Bangladesh was 312 by Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes for the first wicket against Pakistan in 2015. It is also the best for the fifth wicket by any nation against New Zealand.
Shakib is now only the third batsman from his country after Tamim Iqbal and Rahim to score a double century in Tests. He also become the third Bangladesh batsman after Tamim and Habibul Bashar to score 3,000 runs in Tests.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 542 for 7 (Shakib 217, Mushfiqur 159, Neil Wagner 3-124) v New Zealand