|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh opening batter Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who made his maiden half-century in the ongoing series, said he preferred to stay focused on the ball rather than the New Zealand bowlers.

Joy, who scored 78 runs in the first innings, stated that all three of his batting partners reminded him that time spent at the crease will yield runs.

“New Zealand's pace bowling attack is the best in the world. They are the World Test Championship winners. I tried to play my normal game. I tried to focus on the ball not the bowlers,”

"I planned to play as many balls as possible. I didn't want to focus on runs. I knew that I could score runs when I am set at the crease. I had a good partnership with Shadman Bhai [Islam] and then another good partnership followed with Shanto Bhai. Mominul Bhai told me that playing a lot of dot balls was not a problem," he said.

The member of the Youth World Cup-winning team played a 66-run innings in the warm-up match. Joy said the warmup match provided the confidence to win the Test.

“The preparation match that I played before the match was very useful. I got a chance to play and did fairly well. That's where I got the confidence that helped me to perform in the main match,”