'No shortage of confidence'

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam helped the side overcome the absence of lead spinner Shakib Al Hasan and bagged his fourth five-wicket haul, finishing off the Zimbabwe first innings with his second-best Test figures of six for 108 yesterday. During the post-day press conference, however,  he had to field more questions about his teammates' woeful batting performance which saw Bangladesh being bowled out for a paltry 143 than his brilliant spell of bowling yesterday.

The following are excerpts from the press conference:

Q: Are the regular batting failures a concern?

Taijul Islam (TI): If we talk about the batting failures, I would also like to remind you that our batsmen have done well previously and maybe this just happened all of a sudden. It can happen in cricket and we will try to do well in future.

Q: Did the performance in the Test series in West Indies play in the back of the mind?

TI: No, it was nothing like that and I think there was no shortage of confidence in our batsmen and bowlers. Before the defeat in the West Indies series we managed to beat big teams and it can happen in one or two series. The game is not over yet as there are still three days left in the Test.

Q: How do you feel after taking your fourth five-wicket haul?

TI: Obviously, it feels good as you don't get five-six wickets regularly, but I would rather want to look at it from the team's perspective. If my team does well it will feel better.

Q: Do you see any chances of a turnaround from here?

TI: Test cricket is a game of records, so we want to make a record in this game. We are still thinking of winning the game. We would want to restrict Zimbabwe under 150.