'Anything can happen any time'

Confidence was the buzz word in the lead-up to the first Test against Australia, and because of the way the first two days panned out the Bangladesh players came to the post-day press conference with smiles on their faces and confidence in their words. Yesterday after the third day's play, however, Tamim Iqbal -- who had reason to smile after a fantastic 78 in Bangladesh's second innings -- came to the media room of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium with a downbeat air, and his subsequent words explained why that was so.

The situation after the end of the third day could so easily have been similar to what it was after the first day, but the home side were unable to seize the momentum.

"A day ago we would have been happy with setting a target of 260-270 but we had the opportunity to take the lead to 300 or more today. So from that point, obviously we are disappointed and it would have been helpful if we scored 300 or more than that," Tamim told reporters.

After a lower-order collapse of the last five wickets for just 35 runs, despite a fighting start to the second innings, Bangladesh eventually managed to post the target of 265 runs just after the tea break.

At stumps, the visitors looked in control with two of the most experienced campaigners in the Aussie side, opener David Warner (75 not out) and skipper Steve Smith (25 not out) set to resume the fourth day on 109 for two, needing another 156 runs to win.

Unlike the first innings, Bangladesh's bowlers were unable to bowl in the right channel and were unable to keep things tight despite picking up two early wickets. Warner looked comfortable with his back foot punches or coming down the track to hit Shakib Al Hasan for a six without any fear in the last hour of the day.

Mehedi Hasan Miraz conceded 51 runs from 14 overs where he bowled few long hops while Shakib gave away 28 runs from his eight overs, but was unlucky after Soumya missed a chance at slip when Warner was on 14 while Smith survived a tough chance at short leg. Tamim did not hesitate to point out the flaws of the bowlers and also said that it would have been better if Shakib had tried to bat longer.

"I would say the wicket is unpredictable and anything can happen at any time -- we need to be patient. This is the type of pitch where even after two or three innings you have noticed that if a wicket falls it is followed by two or three more. We need to bowl in good areas and I think we could have bowled better today after getting two quick wickets, if we could bowl tighter I think we may have picked up another wicket. If we picked up another wicket it would have been a good day for us," Tamim added.

Interestingly, Bangladesh is in a position pretty similar to the one they were in against England in last year's Mirpur Test where the visitors at one point were 100 without loss chasing 273 before being bundled out for 164. A pragmatic Tamim, however, was not willing to look back on past glories but was intent on talking about what they need to do today.

"There are some similarities with the England game but the wicket is unpredictable. A wicket will come if we can create pressure with tight lines and lengths. If we can remove one of these two batsmen, things can change quickly."