Only ourselves to blame: Tamim

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal said they have only themselves to blame after folding for 234 despite making an excellent start in the first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton today. The left-hander, who got out for a 128-ball 126, saw his teammates giving their wickets away cheaply on a surface which looked greenish but offered little assistance to the bowlers.

"They bowled well in patches, but if you look at our dismissals you will see we didn't get out to any brilliant deliveries. We got out more or less to their plan or maybe we played wrong shots. I thought it was a very very good wicket. It was greenish, but to be honest it didn't do too much. We should have scored a lot more runs than what we have put on there. At the end of the day, we have ourselves to blame," Tamim said at the end of day's play.

"I thought we batted well in patches. There were times when we batted well and at the wrong moments, we gave away our wickets....It is disappointing because getting such a start is a dream for us on the first day on a green wicket in these conditions. Not capitalising on such a good start is very disappointing," the left-hander felt.

With Bangladesh folding for 234, New Zealand weathered the eraly swing and discipline from the Bangladesh bowlers to move to 86 for no loss at stumps. Tamim felt they could not take advantage of the good batting conditions, allowing the hosts to take command of the match. "They are on top. We had our chance to end the day well, but we have ourselves to blame."

However, one thing which pleased him was his own batting. He had scored only 10 runs in three ODIs prior to this Test series. So it was a a bit of a redemption for him too. The century came in New Zealand where he never scored a hundred before. 

"I don't like to rate my hundreds," Tamim said. "But this will be very special for the way I batted. I thought the shots I played, I was very pleased. I thought I had a very clear plan which was if the ball is there to hit, I'd hit it. Luckily I got a few boundaries early and then I just kept on batting the way I like to bat."