Ton-up Shanto leads from the front to put Tigers in front

Bangladesh will end day three of the first Test match against New Zealand at Sylhet the happier side, thanks mainly to the batting of their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto who scored his fifth Test hundred.

He became the first Bangladesh captain to score a Test ton on debut as the Tigers ended the day on 212-3 and 205 runs in front.

The 25-year-old left-hander now has three centuries in his last four innings.

On a day which was hotter than the first two, the Tigers turned up the heat with the bat as they showed a lot of grit, fight and application to put the New Zealand bowlers under the pump.

The Tigers may as well have found a long-term Test captain in Shanto if he's given the reigns.

This innings aside, his on-field captaincy has been on the money from the get-go as he made the right bowling changes to break partnerships and set aggressive, attacking fields to keep the New Zealand batters at bay.

Mominul the all-rounder
Bangladesh went into this Test match with four frontline bowlers - three spinners and one seamer - and that meant that the part-timers would have to bowl their fair share of overs if needed.

With the New Zealand tail wagging and captain Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson putting on a partnership of more than 50, Shanto turned towards Mominul Haque.

On day two, Mominul's first over got rid of the dangerous Glenn Phillips and on day three, his over brought both Southee's (35 runs) and Jamieson's (23 runs) wickets.

On both occasions, the tailenders were expecting the ball to turn more and were deceived by the lack of it.

Mominul has been in good form with the bat this year, averaging over 50, but now it seems he can be used as an effective bowler too as he notched up his best Test bowling figures of three wickets for just four runs. 
 
Needless runouts
Bangladesh's innings needed to get off to a good start as the Black Caps managed to eke out a seven-run lead.

But after the two openers Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Zakir Hasan played watchfully, both were dismissed cheaply.

Zakir was caught playing off of his backfoot to a delivery that was full and turned in sharply by Ajaz Patel to be lbw for 17.

While Joy's dismissal can be considered unlucky, as he was run out off a ball that Shanto drove nicely, ricocheted off Southee's hand and hit the stumps.

He tried to plant his bat back in the crease in due time but was found millimetres short and Bangladesh were 26-2.

Shanto then found a partner in Mominul as the two left-handers counter-attacked the New Zealand bowlers and batted positively to put the pressure back on the visitors. 

They edged Bangladesh ahead in the match as the second session went wicketless, the first such session in this Test match.

With both batters looking set and good for more in the third session, Mominul looked to take a quick single by punching the ball to mid on off the bowling of Patel, but Shanto was caught ball-watching and didn't budge. 

Henry Nicholls collected the ball and threw it back to the keeper Tom Blundell, who did the rest and had Mominul out for 40 and Bangladesh at 116-3, ending a 90-run partnership.
 
Pitch slowing down
Day three in a Test is usually considered moving day when things speed up and more wickets fall but that certainly hasn't been the case here.

Although four wickets fell in the first session, none fell in the second and only one fell in the third.

Two of the three wickets Bangladesh lost were to run outs as well and although the pitch is taking prodigious turn, it's not variable turn.

Even though batting wasn't easy in these conditions, the Bangladesh batters applied themselves tremendously, punished the poor deliveries by the Kiwi bowlers and made sure they kept the pressure on the visitors.

This may be a spinning track but the soil colour and nature is very different from what we see in Mirpur.

In the TV commentary, HD Ackerman alluded to it being like a spinning pitch in England's Southampton, and that is perhaps why the pitch is not becoming an absolute nightmare for batters yet. 

With two days left in the match, one feels a lead of over 300 could still be one that the Black Caps fancy chasing batting last.