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In the history of world cricket, the day of 16th August has been recorded in golden letters for the Bangladeshi sports world. In the first match of the two-match Test series played at the TIO (Marara) Stadium in Darwin, Australia, the Bangladesh team under the captaincy of Nazmul Hussain Shanto achieved a feat which perhaps even the Australian team management had not imagined. Bangladesh registered its first historic Test win on Australian soil by defeating Pat Cummins’ strong Australian team by a huge margin of 9 wickets on the fourth day itself.
After the year 2003 i.e. after a long gap of 23 years, the Bangladeshi team, which came to play a red ball match in Australia, completely pushed the host team on the back foot in every department of the game. Hasan Mahmood’s fiery balls in fast bowling, young opener Tanjeed Hasan’s courageous century in batting and Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s magic of spin in the second innings demolished Australia’s impenetrable fort like a deck of cards. With this victory, Bangladesh has achieved an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series.
Kangaroos surrender in the first innings: Hasan Mahmood’s 6 wickets destroy Australia
At the beginning of the match, Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bat first. The Australian camp hoped that they would put pressure on the visiting team by scoring a big score on the Darwin pitch, but Bangladesh’s young fast bowler Hasan Mahmood entered the field thinking something else. Hasan Mahmood rattled the Australian top order with his pace, swing and precise seam position.
Hasan Mahmood showed the path of six leading Australian batsmen to the pavilion by giving just 55 runs in 17 overs. Apart from experienced batsman Steve Smith (71 runs), none of Australia’s other main batsmen could survive. Usman Khawaja, Travis Head (22 runs) and Marnus Labuschagne (1 run) were out very cheaply and walked away. Fast bowlers Ibadat Hussain (2/39) and Taskin Ahmed (2/55) supported Hasan well, due to which the Australian team was bundled out for just 198 runs in the first innings.
Tanjid Hasan’s historic century and Shanto’s magic: Bangladesh took a huge lead of 228 runs by scoring 426 runs.
After bowling out Australia for 198 runs in the first innings, the Bangladeshi batsmen took on the Australian pace trio—Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Young opener Tanjid Hasan played the most memorable game of his career on Australian soil, scoring a brilliant century of 101 runs with the help of 8 fours and 1 six in 197 balls. Tanjeed joined the elite list of selected Bangladesh batsmen to score a Test century in Australia.
Captain Nazmul Hussain Shanto played a captaincy inning of 84 runs at number three, while Mominul Haq made 49 runs and all-rounder Mehdi Hasan Miraz made valuable contributions of 65 runs in the lower order. Experienced Mushfiqur Rahim also scored 36 runs. Although Josh Hazlewood took 6 wickets (6/89) for Australia, Bangladesh batted for 138 overs and scored a mountain-like score of 426 runs. With this, Bangladesh got a huge lead of 228 runs on the basis of first innings.
Even Cameron Green’s fighting century could not save Australia: Mehdi Hasan Miraz’s claw in the second innings
The Australian team, which entered the second innings with a huge deficit of 228 runs, once again had a very bad start. Opener Jake Weatherald was out for zero without opening the account. At number three, Marnus Labuschagne tried to handle the innings by scoring 31 runs and Steve Smith scored 44 runs, but Bangladesh spinner Mehdi Hasan Miraz kept the Australian middle order tied.
Wickets kept falling from one end, but all-rounder Cameron Green showed extraordinary patience and scored a fighting century of 104 runs in 201 balls with the help of 4 fours and 1 six. Alex Carey also made a fighting contribution of 30 runs. But in the second session of the fourth day, Mehdi Hasan Miraz took 5 wickets for just 66 runs in 33.1 overs and bundled out Australia’s second innings for 284 runs. Hasan Mahmood, who was the hero of the first innings, also took 3 wickets (3/56) in the second innings.
Easy target of 57 runs and victory by 9 wickets: Big upset in the World Test Championship
After bowling out Australia for 284 runs, Bangladesh got an easy target of only 57 runs to win. While chasing the target, Hazlewood gave the initial blow in the form of Tanjeed Hasan (0), but opener Shadman Islam (25 runs not out) and experienced Mominul Haq (30 runs not out) took the team to 57/1 in 14.2 overs without any other loss and gave a historic victory by 9 wickets.
As soon as the winning run was scored, the entire Bangladeshi dugout ran towards the field and the players celebrated this unforgettable moment by hugging each other. This result is very shocking in the context of the current cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC). With this win, Bangladesh has gained vital 12 points, while Australia’s PCT has suffered a big blow after losing the Test at home.
Breach in the impenetrable fortress of Kangaroos: Why is this victory historic for Asian teams?
Defeating Australia in a Test match on its own soil has always been counted among the toughest challenges of world cricket. Apart from India, other teams from the subcontinent—Pakistan and Sri Lanka—have long been yearning for a Test win on Australian soil. In such a situation, a young and emerging team like Bangladesh defeating Australia by 9 wickets in a one-sided fashion in just four days is a sign of a new era of Test cricket.
This historic win has proved that Bangladesh is no longer just a lion on home pitches (turning tracks of Dhaka and Chittagong), but they also have the pace, bounce and bowlers and batsmen to beat the world’s No. 1 teams on foreign pitches. The second and final Test match of the series will be played from August 22 at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in South Mackay, where Australia’s credibility will be at stake and Bangladesh will take the field with the intention of making a clean sweep of the series.