'Not seen anyone dominate like they have,' Warner hails Bangladesh amid Darwin Test

DARWIN: Former Australia opener David Warner acknowledged Bangladesh's dominance over the hosts in the first two days of the Darwin Test, which saw them secure a handy lead of 153 runs with four first-innings wickets in hand.

The Tigers, playing their first Test match against Australia at the latter's home soil in 23 years, made a flamboyant start to the ongoing fixture by rolling out the hosts for a modest 198 on the opening day here at the Marrara Stadium.

Bangladesh extended their dominance in the recently concluded second day, which they finished at 351/6, courtesy of Tanzid Hasan Tamim's record-setting century, coupled with captain Najmul Hossain Shanto's 84-run knock.

With the visitors set to resume their response on the third day and presumably looking to stretch their first-innings lead over the former ICC World Test Championship (WTC) holders, Warner insisted he never saw Australia being dominated like this, especially by a subcontinent side.

"I have not seen anyone dominate like they have on Australian soil for a long time, especially (a side) from the subcontinent," Warner said.

Meanwhile, legendary wicketkeeper batter Adam Gilchrist, who represented Australia in 96 Tests during his glittering career, asserted the challenge ahead creates an opportunity for the under-fire Baggy Greens top order to silence the critics.

"Whatever the lead ends up being, there's just so much time left that and they can take confidence that the pitch is not going to be as challenging in the second innings as what it was in the first innings," Gilchrist said.

"(They will be saying) 'don't get too far ahead of yourself in your mind or in the game.' It's a session-by-session, half an hour by half an hour process, just to try and chip away at whatever the lead is, and then they'll obviously look to build something, but they'll have to play with a little bit more discipline than what they did in the first innings.

"They'll be able to take great notice of what Bangladesh did with their top order and that strong defence and then be prepared to take scoring opportunities when they are there.

"But it's going to be a really good challenge for this team and maybe the opportunity that some of these guys need to just really silence a bit of the noise around there being a bit of inconsistency in that top order. It is a chance to build into a big, big score."