Watch: Ebadot Hossain completed his maiden five-wicket haul, then picked a sixth, to help Bangladesh seal a historic Test match in New Zealand.
In their 21-year Test ‘career’, Bangladesh had never been ranked in the top five. New Zealand, on the other hand, had won the inaugural World Test Championship a few months ago.
Outside Asia and Zimbabwe, Bangladesh’s only Test wins had come against a second-string West Indies side, in 2009. At home, New Zealand had lost three Test matches since 2011/12. The Mount Maunganui Test, thus, had mismatch written all over it.
New Zealand posted 328. Bangladesh responded with 458, but the match had already reached the fourth morning. New Zealand ended the day on 147-5. They were already 17 in front, and three hours of batting would have sealed it for them.
But, on the fifth morning, Bangladesh found an unlikely hero. Until the tour, Ebadot had played 10 Test matches, and his 11 wickets had come at 81.54 apiece – the worst bowling average for any bowler with over 10 Test wickets. He had struck once every 137 balls.
If anything, his first-innings performance of 18-3-75-1 – ordinary otherwise – had been an improvement on his career numbers.
On the fourth day, he had Devon Conway caught at gully. Then, in a spectacular seven-ball evening burst, he had clean bowled Will Young and Henry Nicholls, and trapped Tom Blundell leg-before, celebrating his wickets with an army salute.
Done for the day, Ebadot returned next morning. This time, he sneaked one back through Ross Taylor’s defence to bowl him – and become the first Bangladeshi seamer to take a five-wicket haul in Test cricket since Robiul Islam’s 6-71 in 2013.
The sixth wicket came when Kyle Jamieson was unable to keep his flick on the ground. Shoriful Islam flung himself to his right to take a superb catch. Ebadot finished with 6-46, the second-best figures by a Bangladeshi seamer in Test cricket, after Shahadat Hossain’s 6-27.
New Zealand soon folded for 169, leaving Bangladesh 40 to win. This, they got for the loss of two wickets to seal a historic win.
Watch Ebadot Hossain’s last two wickets here:
Ebadot Hossain has five!!! 🙌
He has ripped through the New Zealand team and given them all a salute on their way back to the hutch!
This is a special performance 👏#NZvBAN pic.twitter.com/5SdqPL8YdG
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 4, 2022
Let's talk about 𝗦𝗜𝗫 baby!
Ebadot Hossain with another but that is a stunning grab from Shoriful Islam 😳
Bangladesh on the verge of a HISTORIC win! #NZvBAN pic.twitter.com/se8YvcPgfA
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 4, 2022