After an incredible day of a Test match with the help of Ebadot Hossain’s late strike, Bangladesh are hoping for something big in the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui. At the end of day four, New Zealand are leading only by 17 runs with five wickets in hand. If Bangladesh can produce another morning session as they did on day two— scalping five New Zealand wickets inside 70 runs— the visitors can hope big from this match, probably, the biggest Test win ever for them. Ebadot, who averaged more than 80 among the bowlers who scalped at least 10 wickets in Tests, emerged largely on the fourth day afternoon taking three wickets in two consecutive overs and bringing New Zealand down to 136 from two to 136 for five, which eventually kept Bangladesh on the race of winning this match. Bangladesh sent back Tom Latham early in the second innings as well, when Taskin Ahmed bowled a delivery outside off stumps, and Latham went to drive but only managed an inside edge which shattered his stumps. Devon Conway fell prey as Ebadto’s first wicket when New Zealand were at 63. Also read: Bangladesh hold firm after imperious batting display After that, it did seem like a boring draw was coming up. Will Young and Ross Taylor added 73 off 175 balls at the third wicket stand. But when Ebadot managed to trick Young for 69, it seemed the floodgate had opened as the pacer ran a riot after that taking the wickets of Nicholls and Blundell too. Bangladesh could have taken Taylor too if they had not missed two easy chances— a catch by Shadman Islam and an easy-looking run-out. New Zealand ended day four at 147 for five in 63 overs, with Ross Taylor and Rachin Ravindra for 37 and six respectively. For Bangladesh, Ebadot bagged four wickets conceding 39 runs— his best bowling in Tests so far. And the other wicket was taken by Taskin. Earlier, Bangladesh ended up on 458 in their first innings in 176.2 overs— the most overs played by any team in New Zealand after Pakistan’s 193.2 in 2009. In reply to New Zealand’s first innings total of 328, Bangladesh secured a 130-run lead. In the first innings, Conway hit a ton for the hosts. And for Bangladesh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mominul Haque and Liton Das hit a fifty each while Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 47 for Bangladesh in Bangladesh’s first innings. Also read: Mahmudul uncertain for rest of New Zealand series Meanwhile, Mahmudul is uncertain for the remainder of this series as he suffered a blow on his right hand that required three stitches. Bangladesh’s physio Bayejidul Islam said that the batter will undergo a seven to 10-day observation now, which eventually, made his chance to take any further part in this series lean.

Bangladesh batting coach Jon Lewis has hailed Mohammad Mithun who hit a 50 in the second game of the three-match series between Bangladesh and the hosts New Zealand. The final game of the series will take place on March 26 at 4am (Bangladesh time) at Wellington. The match will be telecast live on BTV, GTV, and T Sports. Bangladesh posted 271 in the second game riding on the 50s of Tamim Iqbal and Mithun. But the total proved to be too easy for the hosts to chase down as they sealed the game with 10 balls to play and five wickets in hand. Also read: Tamim, Mithun propel Tigers to 271 in 2nd ODI vs Kiwis Tamim scored 78, his 50th 50 in ODIs, and Mithun remained unbeaten on 73. According to Lewis, these two batsmen set the foundation for a win for the Tigers, but the bowler failed to defend the total as Tom Latham, the stand-in captain of New Zealand, smashed a 100 and won the game for the hosts. "Mithun played an exceptional knock in Christchurch. He was trying to get himself closer to the line of the ball. He was trying not to look at the offside so much by keeping leg-side as an option," Lewis told the media on Thursday. Also read: Ross Taylor to play the final ODI vs Bangladesh "You can do it where the ball bounces above the stumps a bit more than Dhaka or Chattogram. I think the big aspect of batting overseas for a Bangladeshi batsman is dealing with quality seam bowling when the ball is new and there is a little bit more bounce." Unlike the first match of the series, Bangladeshi batsmen were cautious at the start of the innings. The strategy was to start slow and change the gear at the later part of the innings, and this is what Mithun did for the Tigers at Christchurch. Lewis said Bangladesh should follow the same strategy in the final game of the series. Also read: Sloppy fielding costs Bangladesh series to New Zealand "If we bat first, we have to be wary of what the new ball might do and have to ensure that quality performers like Trent Boult and Tim Southee – who might join the New Zealand side – do not do too much damage to us early on," he added. "If we are chasing a high score, we have to take advantage of the powerplay – take some risks, play some shots."

Bangladesh national team ended their practice camp in Queenstown with an intra-squad practice game on Tuesday. The Tigers are now set to travel to Dunedin for the first match of the three-match ODI series starting from March 20. 

Bangladesh pacers Rubel Hossain and Shoriful are confident of doing well in the challenging limited-over series against the Blackcaps in their backyard.

Bangladesh’s spin-bowling consultant Daniel Vettori won’t be available after the forthcoming New Zealand series of the Tigers. To replace him in the next series, which will take place in Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh Cricket Board will appoint a local coach, confirmed the cricket operation chairman of BCB Akram Khan.

Bangladesh spin-bowling consultant Daniel Vettori has said that spinners will play a big role in the New Zealand series starting with the first one-day international on March 20 in Dunedin. 

Bangladesh’s New Zealand tour in February next year will go on as planned, says Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury.