"This is the biggest win in Bangladesh’s history"

There may not be many who would disagree with this remark from Najmul Hossain Shanto.

After Bangladesh defeated Australia in a Test in Darwin, the Bangladesh captain said this was the country’s biggest win in any format. At the post-match presentation, Najmul also spoke about Bangladesh’s pace bowling, Tanzid Hasan’s superb century and other aspects of the victory.

The significance of the nine-wicket win over Australia on their home soil becomes clear when one looks at history. Sri Lanka have never beaten Australia in a Test in Australia.

Pakistan last defeated Australia on their home soil in 1995. Among Asian teams, only India have beaten Australia in Australia in this century. Now, Bangladesh have joined that list.

Bangladesh defeated New Zealand in a Test on their home soil in 2022 though. That victory, achieved in difficult conditions, was also historic. Yet, in world cricket, Australia are Australia! Perhaps taking these factors into account, Najmul also sees this as the biggest victory in Bangladesh cricket.

“This is Bangladesh’s biggest win in any format so far. We want to achieve even more special feats in the future,” he said.

Bangladesh played as a team in such a victory, while Najmul led from the front. Given the opportunity to bat in the first innings, he scored 84. His outstanding leadership throughout the match also earned praise from Ricky Ponting, David Warner and others in the commentary box.

Najmul was therefore proud of his own performance as well. “I am very happy with this win. I am proud of my performance and also proud of the way the boys played. We have worked very hard,” he said.

Najmul also spoke about the rise of Bangladesh’s pace bowlers in Test cricket. “This is the biggest change for Bangladesh in Test cricket. Even five years ago, pace bowlers did not want to play Tests. But we are playing a lot of Tests now and they are also giving importance to Test cricket.”

“They want to play, they want to perform, they want to become world-class. That is their mindset now. Senior players such as Mushfiqur and Mominul have also encouraged them to play more Test cricket,” he continued.

Speaking about first-innings centurion Tanzid Hasan, Najmul said, “Tanzid bats aggressively in white-ball cricket. But in this Test, he was calm and played shots according to the ball. As a top-order batsman, we want Tanzid to make an impact in the team. That is exactly what he did.” Before the Darwin Test, Najmul had urged the team to play well for all five days. He delivered the same message ahead of the next Test.

“We have to play good cricket. We have to play good cricket for all five days; I would say the same thing. If we can play session by session, and if the lower-order batsmen can make regular contributions, those things will become important,” he said.

The second and final Test of the series will begin in Mackay on 22 August.