New Delhi, Aug 23 — Bangladesh tasted another piece of history when they achieved a historic outcome in the ICC Test rankings for the teams following the recent update by the global governing body on Sunday. The Bangla Tigers, who famously defeated Australia in the first Test but lost the second one, have jumped three places in the Test standings to reach No.6.
This marked the first instance of Bangladesh rising above the No.9 spot in the Test rankings as Test skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto called it a "huge achievement". "Of course (reaching No. 6) is good news," Shanto said after his side lost the second Test to Australia by an innings and 51 runs. "I am just hearing about it. To reach No 6 in the Test ranking is a huge achievement. It would have been better if we could have played better cricket in this Test match.
Bangladesh went past West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to reach No.6 and have a rating of 78 now. Shanto also appealed for Bangladesh to play more Test matches in Australia, as the recently concluded 1-1 series was their first in Australia after 23 years. "We are here after 23 years (first Test series in Australia since 2003). It's not easy to compete in this condition against this quality of team. If we are able to come here consistently, then the players can get an idea of playing here. They will have more experience playing in Australia. They can adjust to this kind of condition and play good cricket," he said.
Not only for Tests, Bangladesh hardly get to travel to Australia for the other two formats too. Their last ODI series Down Under was in 2008, while they have not toured the nation for T20Is yet. Shanto pointed out that the conditions feel alien if they don't get to play Down Under. "It's hard for the players. Probably 90% of the players haven't played here. They don't know how to adjust, how to cope with this kind of condition, and this kind of bowling attack. My request is that we want to play here. We want to play similar kind of conditions consistently, not after 23 or 25 years," he said.
Bangladesh put up a historic outing in Darwin when they won their maiden Test match on Australian soil. The Asian side chased down a paltry total of 57 in the second innings for a nine-wicket win. They did an impressive job in all the departments, first bowling the Aussies out for 198 with Hasan Mahmud taking a six-wicket haul and then piling up 426 in the first innings on the back of a Tanzid Hasan Tamim century. Mehidy Hasan Miraz led the way to bowl the Aussies out for 284 in the second innings before they cruised to an easy win.
However, the Aussies stormed back in the second Test. Mitchell Starc took a match haul of 10 wickets. He took 6-12 in the first innings to run through the visitors' batting attack to bowl them out for 64. Cameron Green put a stellar 67 with the bat as Australia posted 210 before Starc came back to haunt Bangladesh and picked up 4-39 to bowl them out for 95.