Christchurch: A courageous century by Liton Das made Bangladesh a hard nut to crack, but New Zealand finally broke through on Tuesday to win the second Test by an innings and 117 runs, and draw the two-match series 1-1. Das batted almost one-handed for much of his innings after being struck on the glove. When the ninth Bangladesh wicket fell, the Kiwi crowd began baying for veteran Ross Taylor, who retired from Test cricket on Tuesday, to be given a chance to bowl. Captain Tom Latham bowed to the crowdâs demand and off-spinner Taylorâs third ball brought a false shot from Ebadot Hossain.Mominul Haque | Losing captain, said, ‘We were happy in the first match but were disappointed here. I think it was challenging for us to keep up the momentum. But unfortunately we couldn’t. Always we need to have a good mindset while playing overseas. We have some positives to take despite losing the second Test. When Liton was batting, it didn’t look like a difficult wicket.’
Devon Conway, Man of the Series, said, ‘Happy the way the series went. Happy to be here. I had a little fear of getting hit on the hand again but that went away. Just had to contribute day in and day out. One had to adjust to a game plan. Nice to build that partnership with Tom. The guy (on Ross Taylor) has played that amount of Tests and has so much of knowledge about the game. Just a great bloke to be around. We will miss him a lot in the change room.’
Tom Latham, Man of the Match | Winning Captain, said, ‘Â Obviously nice. We came here 1-0 down. We needed to win on a few areas. Our partnership in the first innings was ideal. I have never felt more pressure while taking a catch (taking the catch off Ross Taylor). I guess from being here, you know the conditions better than anyone. Obviously nice to contribute. We put up a perfect performance and it was ideal. Just wanted to do things a little bit longer. We just passed the ideal baton to the other guys. We put up a perfect performance. All around the world, the surfaces differ from venue to venue. We obviously have done well across the world. Bangladesh put up a great game in the first Test. They (the bowlers) keep putting up their hand up. He probably didn’t see waking up he will take the final wicket. It won’t be the same without him at the first slip!’
Ross Taylor said, ‘It’s great to finish off your career with a win and a wicket, I wanted to finish off with a win and the guys did it. Bangladesh put us under a lot of pressure a number of times, it’s only fair that we share the series. We were under pressure at the start of the match, but then we got the runs that put us in a good stead, the boys returned well with the ball yesterday afternoon. The series was great – I was wondering if we need to come back tomorrow, but the boys were fantastic. It became a bit funky towards the end, I chucked it up and Tom (Latham) said it was the most precious thing I did over the whole game. I have thoroughly enjoyed representing my country, have played a lot here (in Christchurch), spent a lot of time and it’s a great way to finish.’