World cricket’s chief tormentors Australia were taking on erstwhile punching bags Bangladesh after an 11-year hiatus. Skirmishes were inevitable, especially given Bangladesh’s metamorphosis since the 2015 World Cup. The last two years has seen them wallop teams at home in ODIs, before slowly translating that confidence into Test success, as they went on to beat England at home and Sri Lanka away.
On the eve of the first Test, a smug Shakib Al Hasan, on the brink of a historic 50th Test, prophesied a whitewash by Bangladesh. Naturally it irked the Aussies, who in turn reminded the number one ranked all-rounder of their abysmal Test record of nine wins in 17 years.
Smug predictions don’t often have happy endings in cricket. Only a fan stricken with amnesia would have forgotten how Gautam Gambhir came to rue bold predictions after an unfancied England trounced India in 2012. The late Tony Greig’s comments about making the West Indies grovel is a parable all children learning cricket are told. The lesson this? Remain humble in thick or thin.
Of course, Bangladesh needn’t have looked further away from their captain for a tutorial on the perils of premature statements, whether verbalised or gesticulated. Mushfiqur Rahim’s impassioned celebration when India needed two runs off a manageable three balls were a throwback to the moth eaten adage – it isn’t over, till it’s over.
But neither camp was paying heed to any of that. In fact, given Australia’s parched run in Asia, this no-holds-barred war of words could have gone on indefinitely. But thankfully, there was a Test to play, and the scores were eventually settled on the field, in time-honored fashion. Well, largely.
At the peak of his power, perhaps Shakib was the right man to disarm the Aussies with insolent jabs, before the sucker-punch with both bat and ball knocked them out of the contest. Putting his money where his mouth was, on Day one of his 50th Test, Shakib celebrated with a counter-attacking 84, which rescued Bangladesh from a perilous 10 for three. At that delicate stage, all the pre-match assertions were on the verge of recoiling like a boomerang. But as is his wont, Shakib remained true to his word about having the confidence to wrought wins from seemingly hopeless situations.
He went onto play a pivotal role in securing Bangladesh an invaluable first innings lead, with a five-wicket haul. He then mirrored that feat to stall Australia’s chase in the second innings, including the wickets of David Warner and Steve Smith at crucial junctures. In the process, he became the first player to grab the double of 10 wickets and more than 80 runs in Tests, twice. The first time was against Zimbabwe in 2014.
His contribution, however, can’t be measured in numbers alone. There seemed to be a concerted effort to attack Australia in a manner familiar to them, especially when the chips were down. Shakib was his team’s torchbearer in this endeavor. Bangladesh had copious amounts of belief and all the words in the lexicon to fight to the hilt.
“Australians are very good at it, we are learning from them,” quipped Shakib post the win when asked about the banter. He went onto suggest that even if Australia thought that Bangladesh were just turning up for the traditional slaughter before the match, they must have very different ideas now. If nothing else, at least more respect. More post match jibes followed from their captain Mushfiqur, who said, “They [Australia] found out that we are no longer the Bangladesh of the old, that we now have the players who can change the course of a match from any position.”
Australian teams of the yore have often trampled down oppositions that dared reveal any weakness or complacency. During a crisis – not that they faced one too often – if the opposition momentarily had control of the game, Australia often resorted to sledging; euphemistically labelled gamesmanship in their own country. However, the popular consensus in world cricket was that while they were happy to dish it out as a part of the game, they weren’t necessarily as graceful in receiving the same treatment.
Having borne the brunt of such assaults themselves, Bangladesh were ready. Much in the same manner as a resurgent India under Sourav Ganguly took on the Australians to end their 16-match winning streak in Kolkata. Or handed them a rare home Test loss in years at Adelaide.
Ganguly mastered the art of getting under the skin of Australia. Shakib seems to have taken a page out of that manual. Nathan Lyon’s send off to the pavilion in the dying stages of Day one was just another example of Shakib’s quest to beat Australia, not just on the field, but also in the mind. Mental disintegration, anyone?
It is evident that the gulf between the team under Steve Smith and the one under Steve Waugh, to a team like Bangladesh that’s yearning to be taken seriously in Test cricket, is all the same. To Shakib, who has seen all kinds of days conceivable, it is all the same.
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