Nafees Iqbal may well have played his last Test five years ago, but the most telling contribution of his 12-match career came on January 18, 2005.
It was the last day of the second Test against Zimbabwe and in front of a semi-packed Bangabandhu National Stadium, the Tigers had to bat out three full sessions to clinch their maiden series win.
The visitors had set a 374-run target after their captain Tatenda Taibu battled for almost six hours to make 153 out of 286 in the second innings. Javed Omar and Nafees batted stodgily on the fourth evening to end with 98 for no loss, one of the rare bright opening stands during those days of frugality at the top. A 20-year-old opener at the time, Nafees hadn’t quite fulfilled his potential as a compact right-handed batsman who excelled in the age-group level. Having made his Test debut in 2004, the Chittagonian only had a single Test fifty and a barb at English left-armer Ashley Giles as his claim to fame.
This was his big chance to make a name for himself by making an unthinkable contribution: save a Test for Bangladesh. It had been done just the once before when the combined efforts of Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mashud and Mohammad Rafique in Gros Islet earned them a draw without help from the weather.
After the feisty Javed fell in the second hour and the two star batsmen at the time — skipper Bashar and Mohammad Ashraful — fell in quick succession, Nafees battled alongside Rajin Saleh to see Bangladesh home safely. He made 121 with the help of 18 boundaries to score his first and only Test century to date.
That was the last time Bangladesh played Zimbabwe in a Test match because soon after, the African nation lowered their flag in the Test arena in a bid to re-develop their team.
Their first Test opponent after the hiatus is Bangladesh, a team that has gone through rapid changes in the six years. Among the current 15-member side, Ashraful is the only member to have played in the last Test between the two sides but his spot isn’t as automatic as it used to be.
While Nafees Iqlba’s effort at the time was a rare occurrence, the Tigers now largely bank on Imrul Kayes and Tamim to fire from the top. The middle-order, which used to be manned by Bashar, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed and Mashud, has a more left-handed look now as Junaed Siddiqui, Shahriar Nafees and skipper Shakib Al Hasan are in command of places.
But while the openers have become better and bolder and the Tigers now have a world-class all-rounder in their midst, the pace attack at the time had the forceful Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
Shafiul Islam hasn’t quite cut his teeth in Test cricket and would be provided with two supporting acts in Harare. The spinners too were collectively better in the 2005 Test; Rafique and Enamul Haque as opposed to the lone Shakib in this game.
Though Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have played ODIs at least once a year during the last six years, the Tigers are likely to face a deceptively stronger challenge.
Zimbabwe have hosted a tri-series with Australia A and South Africa A and have already played three longer-version games against the former. Though they lost all three, some of their batsman are in form with newly-appointed skipper Brendan Taylor hammering two half-centuries in the just-concluded second four-dayer.
With Ray Price taking wickets at will, Bangladesh must be prepared for a hard scrap when they fly off to Harare on July 27. The visitors too will be desperate to win a series they are expected to win; a loss for the Tigers would be catastrophic.
-With The Daily Star input
