Bangladesh impress but rain forces draw

Overnight rain and a persistent light drizzle through the day ruined the last day's play in the second Test, in Mirpur. That meant Bangladesh had registered their second successive drawn series after finishing 1-1 against Zimbabwe in April this year. The 0-0 result against New Zealand, a team ranked higher than them in the Test rankings, is a fine result for the home side. They have now drawn three Tests against New Zealand in eleven matches.

The covers came on and off twice in Mirpur in the morning session, but they remained on since 11.00am. The rain never progressed into a downpour, but it was enough to bring everything to a standstill.

Mominul Haque, with his 376 runs in four innings, and Sohag Gazi, with eight wickets, take the top positions in the batting and bowling charts for the series. For New Zealand, Kane Williamson is the top run-scorer with 250 runs, while Neil Wagner's seven-wicket tally ranks the best among his team's bowlers.

Mominul, however, missed a chance to topple Habibul Bashar's record for aggregate runs in a series by a Bangladesh batsman. Bashar had made 379 runs against Pakistan in a three-match series in 2003. Mominul's tally is second on the list.

After the match, Tamim Iqbal was fined 50% of his match fees for nudging Brendon McCullum with his shoulder during New Zealand's innings, while moving past the batsman to his fielding position at mid-on. Tamim pleaded guilty to the charge, and was penalised under Article 2.2.4 of the ICC code of conduct, which deals with "inappropriate and deliberate contact between players during the course of play".

The two teams now play a three-match ODI series, starting on October 29. New Zealand depart from Bangladesh on November 7, a day after the one-off Twenty20.