When Shakib Al Hasan said he expects Bangladesh to win 2-0 against Australia, many people laughed him off and even the Australian skipper was surprised with the comments. Well, half of that claim is already achieved as the Bangladeshi all-rounder was the scriptwriter of the historic win for Bangladesh in Dhaka in the first Test.
Initially, the efforts of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan guided Bangladesh to a total of 260 in the first innings. Both scored half-centuries and shared a stand of 155 runs. There were very little contributions from other batsmen but a total of above 250 was always going to be good on a rank turner.
Then, Shakib delivered with the ball too as he bagged a 5 wicket haul in the first innings. None of the Australian batsmen could get past a score of 50 and the highest score turned out to be Matt Renshaw’s 45. The tail showed some resistance and dragged the score to 217.
Having a handy lead of 43 runs, the hosts were adamant to give a stiff target to the opposition. It was Tamim Iqbal again who led the charge with a well-composed 78. Nathan Lyon took 6 wickets for 82 but Bangladesh scored enough to pose a threat. The innings ended at 221 which meant that the Aussies had to chase 265 to win.
On a turning track, against the spinners of the home side, it was always going to be tough. But David Warner and Steve Smith took the challenge in their strides and shared a stand of 130 runs for the 3rd wicket. Warner scored an explosive hundred and gave nightmares to the opposition.
The dream was slipping away from Bangladesh but it was Shakib again who brought them back in the match. He dismissed Warner for 112 and then Smith for 37 which just opened the floodgates. One by one, every batsman departed and the spinners ran through the line-up.
As Josh Hazlewood was trapped in front by Taijul Islam, the home side erupted in joy as they had achieved their first ever victory against the mighty Aussies who fell short of the target by 20 runs. History was created in Dhaka and it was one that the Asian country will cherish for a number of years to come.
Here are some of the best tweets to celebrate Bangladesh’s historic win
Well done Bangladesh. Special effort to beat Australia. #BANvAUS
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 30, 2017
First @westindies and now @BCBtigers , within 24 hours, the game has seen 2 historic wins, great news for Test cricket #BANvAUS #AUSvBAN
— Shubham Khare (@shubhamkhare71) August 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/cricbuzz/status/902801226286247938
https://twitter.com/billz_25/status/902798145029013504
Australia in Asia since October 2008….
Tests: 23, Won 2, Lost 16, Drawn 5 (win% 8.70)
Lost:
10 in India
3 in SL
2 in UAE
1 in Ban#BanvAus— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) August 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/RusselArnold69/status/902796631728377857
https://twitter.com/fwildecricket/status/902796869872603136
Number of Test wins as captain against Australia:
Fleming + Gooch + Kapil + Flintoff + Mahela + McCullum = 0
MUSHFIQUR RAHIM = 1#BANvAUS— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) August 30, 2017
Brilliant for cricket.
Awful for Australian cricket.#BANvAUS— Neroli Meadows (@Neroli_Meadows) August 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/ImRo450/status/902769941975355394
https://twitter.com/SpinnerGrace/status/902796554028724224
https://twitter.com/tomglasson/status/902061802468474882
https://twitter.com/ImRo450/status/902841411531190273
https://twitter.com/SirJadejaOfc/status/902804127297585152
When the Aussies said they wanted a few extra zeros on their contracts, I thought they were talking about pay…..not score sheets #AusvBAN
— brizey0202 (@brizey0202) August 29, 2017
I wish the Aussie top order fought as hard for their wicket as they did their pay rise#oled #thankf&@kfortheunion #AUSvBAN
— Michael Eva (@mickeva28) August 28, 2017
