Spotlight was on the host Bangladesh as they required just three wickets to secure their inaugural home triumph over New Zealand. Adding to the four wickets claimed on day four, Taijul Islam snared two more on the fifth morning, culminating in a six-wicket haul for 75 runs. With this stellar performance, Bangladesh closed the match with a commanding 150-run victory, as in pursuit of 332, New Zealand stumbled at 181. Taijul's ten-wicket haul, conceding 184 runs, marked his second instance of achieving ten or more wickets in a single Test. His first decimation of this magnitude came in 2018 against Zimbabwe at the same venue. Taijul takes 4 wickets as Bangladesh closes in on win in first test against New Zealand This triumph propels Bangladesh into the new World Test Championship cycle on a high note, a noteworthy feat given the absence of several senior players in this match. The designated Test captain, Shakib Al Hasan, remained sidelined due to a finger injury, joined by Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das for various reasons. The mantle fell upon the rejuvenated Bangladesh Test team under the leadership of Najmul Hossain Shanto, who, having led Bangladesh in the World Cup in Shakib's absence, made a spectacular debut as Test captain by scoring a century—the first for a Bangladeshi in debut as captain. This century laid the foundation for the Tigers to set a challenging target for New Zealand, a team that had never successfully chased more than 324 runs in the fourth innings to win a Test. Notably, the last instance was in 1994 when they defeated Pakistan chasing 324 runs, making this pursuit a significant challenge. Sylhet Test: Quick wickets daunt New Zealand’s chase for 332 Chasing a target of 332 runs in the fourth innings, New Zealand faltered early, losing wickets at regular intervals and failing to recover from the initial setback of losing three for 30 runs. Daryl Mitchell displayed resilience with a score of 58, while Tim Southee contributed 34 in the face of a formidable bowling attack from Bangladesh. However, apart from them, none of the other New Zealand batters could mount significant resistance. Taijul's exceptional performance in this match marked his 13th five or more-wicket haul in Tests, making him the second-best for Bangladesh after Shakib, who boasts 19 such hauls. In the first innings, Bangladesh posted 310, with Mahmudul Hasan Joy notching up 86 after winning the toss. No player from Bangladesh managed to cross the fifty-run mark. Glenn Phillips shone for New Zealand, taking four wickets. In response, New Zealand secured a narrow 7-run lead, scoring 317 in their first innings, with Kane Williamson being the standout performer with a century. Taijul contributed with four wickets in the first innings. Sylhet Test: Bangladesh set 332-run target for New Zealand In their final innings, Bangladesh scored 338, anchored by Shanto's century and fifties from Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Ajaz Patel took four wickets for the visitors. With this win, overall second against New Zealand, Bangladesh took the lead in the two-match series. The second and final match of this series is scheduled to take place in Dhaka on December 6.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam claimed 4-40 to rip through New Zealand's batting lineup as Bangladesh closed in on a victory in the series-opening test on Friday. New Zealand was reduced to 113-7 at stumps on day 4, chasing a victory target of 332. Daryl Mitchell batted patiently to end the day on 44, with Ish Sodhi on 7. Opener Devon Conway was the only other batter to put up resistance with 22. "We need this victory badly because when you will beat a big team like New Zealand, it will give you the confidence," Taijul said. "We won't say we've won the game until we grab the last wicket." Sylhet Test: Quick wickets daunt New Zealand’s chase for 332 Pacer Shoriful Islam extended Tom Latham's lean patch with a six-ball duck in the first over, and Kane Williamson failed to build on his first-innings century on an increasingly deteriorating wicket. Williamson started with a brace of boundaries against Mehidy Hasan but Taijul troubled him by varying the pace and finally trapped him lbw for 11. Williamson reviewed in vain. Henry Nicholls was the next to go, top-edging a slog-sweep off Mehidy to Nayeem Hasan at short fine leg for 2. Conway was playing with positive intent with wickets falling around him and perfectly swept the spinners to keep the scoreboard moving before Taijul had him caught by Shahadat Hossain at short leg. With New Zealand at 46-4, the onus was on Mitchell but he found little support from the other end. Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell (6) was stifled by Taijul before edging a turning delivery behind, and Nayeem pegged back the visitors further with a successful review to remove Glenn Phillips. Sylhet Test: Bangladesh set 332-run target for New Zealand When Taijul got the better of Kyle Jamieson for 7, Bangladesh looked like they could wrap up the win on day four. But Mitchell and Sodhi survived a tricky 30 minutes before the bad light forced stumps. "It's not a bad wicket. I suppose their bowlers have bowled very disciplined and put the ball in good areas and asked us good questions for long periods of time," New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel said. "A lot of batting to do tomorrow. We've got Dazzler (Mitchell) there who's batted quite nicely today. And we know how capable Ish (Sodhi) is with the bat as well. I think we pride ourselves to fight all the way through. So, it'll be an interesting day tomorrow." Earlier, Bangladesh was bowled out for 338 in its second innings. Najmul Hossain Shanto added just one run to his overnight score and was out for 105 as Bangladesh lost a succession of wickets. Mehidy Hasan scored 50 not out to help the side take the lead past 300. The hosts started Day 4 on 212-3 but lost Shanto in the second over when Tim Southee had him caught down the leg side, ending a 98-run fourth-wicket stand. Bangladesh's ODI, T20 Squads for tour of New Zealand announced Mushfiqur Rahim continued and raised his 27th test half-century off 79 balls, with an outside-edge two against Southee. But he failed to convert it to a hundred when left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel trapped him in front for 67. Legspinner Ish Sodhi got the better of Shahadat Hossain (18) to expose Bangladesh's lower order, which failed to play around Mehidy. Bangladesh lost the last three wickets for 27 runs but that was enough to set a tough target for New Zealand. The home side was dismissed for 310 in its first innings and conceded 7-run lead when New Zealand put up 317 all out.

Bangladesh are trailing by 80 runs in the Dhaka Test against India after day two. Taijul Islam, who took four wickets in India's first innings, believes that Bangladesh could have been in a stronger position now, were it not for some sloppy fielding. Bangladesh failed to capitalize on two great chances - a stumping chance against Rishabh Pant and a catch dropped off Shreyas Iyer, which could have greatly impacted the game. While Rishabh scored 93, Iyer posted 87— the best two individual totals of India’s innings.  "To be honest, our fielding was a bit sloppy," Taijul declared in the post-day press conference. "It's rare to get opportunities such as these while competing with heavyweight teams like India." Taijul is confident that Bangladesh are still well-positioned in the match despite being behind India by 80 runs in the first innings. He believes it will be a challenging task for India if Bangladesh can set a target of 250 or more in the final innings. “We don't know how the wicket would behave on the fourth and fifth day,” he said. “If we can take a lead of 250 runs, I think it would be good for us.” India started the day on 19/0, and ended their first innings all out for 314, securing a lead of 87 runs after Bangladesh were bowled out for 227 on day one.  Read more: Dhaka Test: Bangladesh opt to bat first with two changes vs India At stumps on day 2, Bangladesh were batting at 7/0. Najmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir Hasan ended the day unscathed.  Earlier, Taijul had taken three wickets of his four first innings wickets in the first session to rock the Indian innings, leaving the visitors teetering at 94/4 at one stage of the morning. But Bangladesh struggled to contain Rishabh and Shreyas in the second session, as they established a steady 159-run stand for the fifth wicket. Their partnership was eventually broken by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, when he got rid of Rishabh.  Shakib Al Hasan, recovered from the injury that prevented him from bowling in Chattogram, chipped in with four wickets later, as India lost their last six wickets for just 61 runs. Read more: Dhaka Test: Bangladesh end first innings on 365 “We have been doing well in this Test so far,” Taijul said. “It would be great if we could beat India. We would take the field keeping a win in mind.”

Bangladesh left-arm orthodox spinner Taijul Islam has used the hiatus forced by the Covid-19 pandemic to bring some changes in his bowling action. He says the new action has added an edge to his bowling, and he is more confident about bowling long spells now without any niggling worries.

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam says he is working hard to expand his horizon. The bowler is only considered to be a handy option in red-ball cricket. But he is keen to make himself count in white-ball cricket as well. 

Bangladesh’s leading spinner in the current Test set-up Taijul Islam believes a win in the upcoming series against Zimbabwe will help them get back their confidence.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam bagged five wickets for Islami Bank East Zone against Walton Central Zone as the eighth edition of Bangladesh Cricket League began at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Friday.