Robiul shines on bleak day

With Zimbabwe amassing a lead of 442 with three wickets in hand at stumps in the second innings, the third day of the first Test was a dark one for Bangladesh. It is rendered darker still by the fact that the Tigers, on a pitch that hardly warranted a collapse, lost nine wickets for 37 runs on the third morning. But the response to such crippling failure cannot be faulted, and all of the credit goes to Robiul Islam, who finished the day with six for 55 and provided Bangladesh a sliver of hope.
In the process he notched the best innings and match figures (nine for 139)
The man is shy and reserved -- and that he had to come to the post-day press conference as the only Bangladeshi to have escaped the day with flying colours -- seemed to him to be a scarier proposition than the any shot that bogeyman Brendan Taylor could play.
Robiul however expected his five-for in the first innings. “When I bowled in the first innings, I should have gotten five wickets because then the wicket was more helpful. Otherwise, I feel good to have taken my first five-wicket haul,“ said Robiul.
Any positive feeling must be tempered by the negativity engendered by his side's position in the match. But the swing bowler was still optimistic and did his best to defend the atrocious batting performance. “I will not say it was bad batting. They played well, one or two of our batsmen made mistakes but overall everyone got out to good balls. I am hopeful of a comeback.
“If we can get them all out in the first hour then the lead will be something like 480. With one and a half days' batting it will be tough, but still possible.”
Robiul's optimism is probably a product of his magnificent bowling. But if they can get Taylor out quickly tomorrow, his batting colleague's will need to show even more discipline and patience than Robiul if they are to pull off a Test record chase.