Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Taijul Islam is confident that 250 runs will be sufficient to defeat India in the second Test in Dhaka’s Shere Bangla Stadium. Bangladesh, led by four-fers from Taijul and Shakib, bowled the visitors out for 314 in the first innings, giving up an 87-run lead, before going to stumps on Friday at 7 for no loss in their second innings.

“If Bangladesh can take a lead of 250 runs, it will be good. If we want to take a 250-run lead, we will have to bat for the entire day tomorrow, and we will have to see how the wicket will behave on the fourth and fifth day. We want to score as much as possible because we still have three days of play left. If we can bat well and take the lead to 300 or 350, it will be even better.”

Taijul told reporters after the second day’s play.

India clawed their way back as they added 140 runs in the second session, losing only Virat Kohli for the wicket. Bangladesh had struck three times in the first session, giving up only 67 runs.

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There were as many as four missed catches and one missed stumping, which proved costly

“To be honest, the middle session was an expensive one. If we could’ve leaked lesser runs, even if we didn’t get wickets, it would have been good for us. Still, I won’t say that we are in a very bad state. To be honest, we have some lacking (in fielding and catching) here. When they play against big teams, they don’t get those chances. But against Bangladesh, they get one or two chances. At one point, we missed two to three chances and if we could’ve picked those chances, they would have been all out even before crossing our total.”

Taijul conceded.

Taijul expressed satisfaction with his performance against India thus far in the series after taking four wickets in the first Test and four more in the second Test’s first innings.

“I think everything is alright (as far as my bowling is concerned). When you are playing against a big team, few bowlers won’t do well and perhaps one or two bowlers will under-perform,”

he said.

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“I think we are bowling well. We are playing against a big team, and taking that into consideration, we are doing well. I think he gave 100 percent (as a bowler) and I haven’t seen anything bad. The breakthrough that he (Shakib) provided at the latter part of the innings clearly suggest that he was bowling well.”

he said, adding that Shakib al Hasan did not struggle in the middle, even though his bowling fitness remained a concern for them.