‘Mushy batted us out of the game’

Brendan Taylor struck a brilliant ton against the odds today and his innings helped Zimbabwe out of a tricky position on day 3 but the batsman acknowledged that it was going to be a monumental challenge to even draw the game. He opined that Mushfiqur Rahim's double ton yesterday had made the difference and spoke of his admiration for the Bangladesh wicket-keeper batsman.

"The way Mushy has played to face that many balls and show that sort of concentration and discipline, it was an incredible knock. We admired what he did. He's batted us out of this game. It just shows his class as a player," Taylor said.

Mushfiqur's unbeaten 219 meant that the Tigers got a first innings lead of 218 runs and can enforce a follow-on if they wish to do so.

"We're still behind. They're 220 runs ahead. If I was Bangladesh I would bowl again because even if we get 300, Bangladesh chase 80," Brendon stated, knowing full well the difficulty of the job in hand.

Taijul Islam continued his dominance on Zimbabwe batsmen as he picked up another five-wicket haul today after bagging 11 wickets in the first Test at Sylhet. With the pitch becoming more difficult to contend with on day 4 and 5, Taijul would be a real threat for Zimbabwe.

"If we go into day five, the wicket's going to break up and it will make life extremely difficult. If Taijul gets five wickets in the first innings, second innings he's going to be even harder to face," Taylor opined.

"It's not over. It's certainly not. But it's going to be a monumental challenge for us to even draw this game. We've batted 105 overs. If we bat four sessions, that's 120 overs on day five. Realistically, it will be a miracle for us to draw this game, but we have to have the belief that we have the batters and mental strength to do that," he concluded.