On November 10, 2000, Bangladesh became the tenth nation to play Test cricket when it took on India in a one-off Test at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. The Asian country had previously played cricket as East Pakistan and post-independence in 1971, they began their international foray in 1979 and it soon paved the way for entry in the longest format of the game.
Bangladesh’s first ODI was against Pakistan in 1986 which the debutants lost by seven wickets. They had to wait for over a decade and 22 ODIs to celebrate their maiden win in international cricket.
However, their foray in Test cricket had come after the International Cricket Council (ICC) annual conference in June 2000, in which all nine Test nations voted in favour of Bangladesh’s Test debut.
Bangladesh Cricket Board’s then president Saber Hossain Chowdhury played a key role in gaining all the necessary votes for clinching the Test berth. After due processes the hosts were set for the inaugural game and sent out invitations to India and England. Team India agreed to be the challenger.
On 10th November in 2000, Naimur Rahman captained the Bangladeshi side which won the toss and elected to bat first. The debutants showed a lot of promise in the first innings as Habibul Bashar scored the first half-century and Bangladesh finished the first day on 239/6.
The following day, Aminul Islam earned the distinction of scoring the first-ever Test century for Bangladesh, before the team folded their first essay at 400. Sunil Joshi picked five wickets (5/142), Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar picked two each.
The hosts had the visitors struggling at 236/6 before Sunil Joshi and captain Sourav Ganguly stitched an important partnership. Joshi scored 92 while Ganguly contributed 84 to give their side a slender lead of 29 runs (429). Skipper Rahman picked 6/132, while Mohammad Rafique chipped in with three.
The hosts failed to carry-on their momentum in the second innings and they were dismissed for a paltry 91 by the Indian bowlers. The visitors chased down the small target of 64 with nine-wickets to spare on the fourth day of the historic Test. However, it was the fixture that was more significant than the result.
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