'We need to be patient'

Kamrul Islam Rabbi, who was Bangladesh's highest wicket-taker yesterday with two scalps, said that Bangladesh's bowlers needed to exercise patience in order to reap the rewards on a batting-friendly Basin Reserve track.

Speaking to reporters after the third day of the first Test yesterday, he said: “I think this wicket is sporting. If one can bowl consistently in the right areas, the batsmen will be in trouble. If you bowl a little outside or of if you bowl badly, you won't get any respite.

“You need to be patient on these kinds of wickets. We have been getting chances, we just need to be patient.

“We bowled in the right areas and that's why they lost three wickets and why we got several opportunities. The wicket in Dhaka in my last Test was spin-friendly, here it's sporting. The three of us [Taskin Ahmed, Shubhashis Roy and Kamrul] haven't played a lot of Test cricket. We are going through a learning process. If we can stay patient, we can do well,” he added.

As Kamrul put it, Bangladesh did get a few opportunities and a couple of half-chances yesterday and had they managed to grab them, the scenario at the end of the day could have been a lot different. While they managed to bowl many dot balls, the problem was that they leaked too many boundaries.

Taking a leaf out of Bangladesh's batting innings, the New Zealand players too batted with a high tempo throughout the day and amassed 292 runs in 77 overs.

It was colder than the previous days at Wellington yesterday and the Bangladesh players had some difficulty adjusting to that as well.

“After getting the ball in hand, a pacer generally doesn't think about whether it's hot or cold. But yes, it was quite cold today, towards the end especially. The body wasn't getting warm and we haven't played too many Tests in this kind of weather.

“So, whenever the captain wanted to give us the ball, he would inform us a couple of overs in advance so that we could warm up. But, despite the problems, we are trying our best to do well,” said Kamrul.

Personally for Kamrul, his experience in his third Test seemed to be a lot better than his first two in Bangladesh.  On the turning tracks of Chittagong and Dhaka, Kamrul bowled a grand total of 19 overs in two Tests and scalped just one wicket. Yesterday, he bowled 13 and took two. He looked good as well, moving the ball into the batsmen quite often.

“My experience in my first two Tests wasn't that good. After those two Tests I worked on my problems and managed to move away from them. I didn't get a chance to play in the New Zealand tour initially, but after I got a call in the Tests, I really wanted to do my best.

“During the Dhaka Test I remember telling myself, “oh! When will I get that one wicket?” Here, I already want more,” said Kamrul.