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Bangladesh spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed said that there was belief inside the dressing room that they could win the first Test against South Africa at Mirpur. 

After the completion of the truncated third day at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, the hosts were 81 runs ahead in the second innings with only three wickets remaining.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz was unbeaten on 87 and would be vital to putting pressure on the visitors. 

Mushtaq, however, believed that the 138-run partnership between Mehidy and debutant Jaker Ali for the seventh wicket, which enabled Bangladesh to avoid an innings defeat, had already put pressure on the opponents. 

‘The beauty of Test cricket is when you fightback’, Mushtaq told the reporters after rain brought an early end to the third day’s play.

‘Especially when it is the lower order batters. When the lower-order is fighting well, tactically you put a lot of pressure on the opposition. I think that’s a great sign.’

On the third morning, an innings defeat seemed to be a strong possibility for Bangladesh, as they lost three quick wickets. But now they believe that they can push for a win. 

The former Pakistan leg-spinner referred to the second Test against Pakistan in October, when the Tigers fought back from 26-6 in the first innings to win the match, and remarked that everything is possible. ‘You just got to believe that. When I talk about belief, you know the process of how to win matches. You don’t give up,’ said Mushtaq.

‘Actually, you believe every single person is going to go and bat [battle]. In the first innings, for example, Taijul batted beautifully. When you see that as an opposition, you know we’re not going to give up. Then people start respecting you, and then you can challenge anything’, he added. 

Keshav Maharaj, the South African spinner who has taken three wickets so far, credited Bangladesh for their efforts with the bat. But he still thinks that they were ahead in the game. ‘Obviously Bangladesh has done really well today [Wednesday]. Conditions got a little bit better, if I’m honest, with a slightly used ball,’ said Maharaj.

‘Obviously, Bangladesh have a lead, and we’ve got three wickets more to get.

 ‘So obviously if we can restrict them as much as possible [that’d be better], but I still feel we’ll be in the bouncing seat, considering the good work that we did with the batsmen in our first innings.’

Maharaj thought that anything under 100 runs would be ideal for them to chase. But as the conditions were gradually easing up to bat, they wanted to take one thing at a time, starting to pick up the three remaining Bangladesh wickets.