Ebadot's breakthroughs boosted the morale of the team: Liton

The match was heading towards a draw but Ebadot Hossain turned things around with a spell of his lifetime in the evening session of the fourth day of the ongoing Mount Maunganui Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand. He got the ball to reverse a bit and consistently hit the 140 kph-mark that troubled the batters. 

In a very short space of time, the right-arm pacer sent back three New Zealand batters - Will Young, Henry Nicholls and Tom Blundell - and made the game wide open. 

Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das lauded Ebadot for his potential match-turning spell. "Ebadot was brilliant today. Both his spells were excellent. I think bowling in the same channel on a regular basis helped him succeed. His breakthroughs boosted the morale of the team. We are not over-excited because we know that there are still five wickets left and we have to chase later on. We will try to limit the target as much as possible," said Liton. 

The pitch offered variable bounce, especially when the hosts came out to bat with the odd one keeping very low. Liton stated that the ball was skidding and keeping low which helped Ebadot.

"The ball was skidding and occasionally keeping low. So the plan for Ebadot was to bowl fast and into the wicket and hope that the variability of the pitch will bring leg-befores and bowleds into play. We were encouraging him to bowl faster. You must have heard Shanto scream, "Faster, faster!" Because he got more help from the pitch if he bowled fast," Liton mentioned.

Liton further said that the wicket won't be easy on the final day and the Tigers would want to restrict New Zealand to a gettable target. "The pitch won't be easy to bat on tomorrow. Because the wicket is deteriorating with time. We will try to wrap their innings up as early as possible. It will be difficult for us to bat as well. Right now we are very calm. We are following a process. We have found success by following that and will continue to do so," Liton concluded.