‘Difficult but not impossible to save the match'

Bangladesh are in a precarious position having lost three key wickets in their second innings and face the  possibility of another loss, that too inside three days after the first two days were washed out due to rain. Following the conclusion of the fourth day, batsman Tamim Iqbal admitted that things are not looking good but reiterated that the task of saving the match is not impossible.

Tigers realistically do not have a shot of winning the match after New Zealand had declared their innings following a 221-run lead. Then Bangladesh lost Tamim, Mominul Haque and Shadman Islam before close of play and will have to face a barrage on a fifth-day track from Kiwi quicks.

"It's difficult but anything is possible in cricket," Tamim said when asked if Bangladesh can manage to save the Test match by batting through day five. "Since we have seven wickets and Riyad bhai and Liton will be there. I think the important thing is to not lose any wickets in the first session or lose just one wicket at maximum. So it will be difficult but not impossible," he added.

Asked what the task will be, Tamim reiterated that right now all batsmen have to think of staying at the crease for a long time.

"The hope is to bat long, that's all there is to it. We have lost three wickets and we have a long tail too."

Bangladesh did not have a good day with the ball either as Ross Taylor picked up a quick-fire double hundred while Henry Nicholls struck a ton to pile on the misery for Bangladesh attack. Asked about another disappointing day after Abu Jayed Rahi had shown promise with two early wickets yesterday, Tamim asked for patience in regards to gauging the performance of the bowlers.

"On and off, there were few overs they bowled extremely well and few where they did not do what was required," he said about the bowling performance. "That comes with experience. What we have to remember is these three [Khaled did not play the second Test] are very very new. The ones we are playing against have two with 250 wickets haul. It comes with experience. Hope is that they can learn from this experience. It would be a problem if they don't learn but if they can use this to perform in the future then it will be a plus point for us. "