Bangladesh-Pakistan first Test begins today
Eight years ago on a September afternoon all Bangladeshis were glued to television screen hoping for their national cricket team to record their maiden Test win away from home against Pakistan in Multan.
It all ended in heartbreak as Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq chose the game to prove his greatness and snatched away the win from Bangladesh’s grip with a superhuman innings.
The tears of then skipper Khaled Mahmud after the one-wicket defeat touched the hearts of many fans, but they had at least one big consolation that Bangladesh fought like real Tigers.
Bangladesh did not have a chance to meet Pakistan in a Test match since that epic game, means the players and officials had to live with that memory for so many years.
With the teams playing another Test match now in Chittagong from today, Multan has now become a thing of past. Pakistan exposed the gulf of difference between the two sides in the preceding one-day series making Multan completely irrelevant now.
Instead of thinking to get that close, it is now a question of survival for Bangladesh, who were unable to compete in any of the games they played in the series.
While in eight years’ time they should have become a competitive outfit, they rather had to face questions if they can survive for five days. No-one bothered to ask the Bangladeshi players if they are thinking of a win or a draw in the game.
Shahriar Nafees, the opening batsman, who represented the Tigers at the pre-match press briefing, faced repeated questions if he thinks Bangladesh can really survive for five days in Tests.
The situation was perhaps not that bad even before Bangladesh’s inaugural Test.
Shahriar replied in a confident manner that they have the ability to take the game to five days, but it could hardly convince anyone. The history of performing well with their back to the wall seemed the only inspiration for Shahriar.
‘It happened many times in the past,’ Shahriar told reporters. ‘When we go under pressure, we tend to perform well. You can take the World Cup as an example. We were under so much pressure when we came here. But we won two back-to-back matches.’
Shahriar appeared least bothered about Bangladesh’s chance of surviving five days.
‘The matches that we played this year against Zimbabwe and West Indies, they all went for five days. But not necessarily it will happen always. You will see many Test matches are now decided on the fourth day,’ he said.
‘The most important thing is how good we are playing. We have two chances to bat in Tests and we have to do well and if we can do this I don’t see any reason why we can’t take this game into the fifth day,’ he added.
-With New Age input
