Hasan-Nahid-Taskin’s achievement is a first for Bangladesh in Test cricket

Bangladesh is reaping rewards aplenty in the Test series against Pakistan. They secured a historic victory in the first match, marking their first-ever Test win against the team. In the first innings of the second Test, Liton Kumar Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz set several records with their partnership and individual performances—achievements never before seen in the history of Test cricket. Now, thanks to the pacers, Bangladesh has witnessed a feat they have never accomplished in Test cricket.

At the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Bangladesh bowled out Pakistan for just 172 runs in their second innings. Hasan Mahmud led the charge by claiming his career’s first five-wicket haul. The 21-year-old Nahid Rana took four wickets with his fiery bowling, while Taskin Ahmed bagged the remaining wicket. That’s right— all ten wickets were taken by three pacers, a first in Bangladesh’s Test cricket history.

Bangladesh has been playing Test cricket since 2000. For the majority of these 24 years, the strategy to contain opponents has largely depended on spinners, who have brought significant success. Considering the conditions, relying on pacers hasn’t often yielded noteworthy results for Bangladesh. Never before have the pacers collectively taken all ten wickets of an opponent’s innings. They came close four times, but never managed all ten.

Before this success, Bangladesh’s pacers took nine wickets in an innings on four occasions and eight wickets on another four occasions. The pacers nearly took all ten wickets against Zimbabwe just a year after gaining Test status. In 2001, at Bulawayo, Hasibul Hossain Shanto, Manjurul Islam, and Mohammad Sharif collectively took nine wickets in Zimbabwe’s first innings. Manjurul claimed six wickets, Shanto took two, and Sharif got one. The remaining wicket was taken by Naimur Rahman Durjoy.

Later that year in Hamilton, New Zealand, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Manjurul Islam, Mohammad Sharif, and Khaled Mahmud Sujon together claimed nine wickets. In 2005, in Colombo, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, and Aftab Ahmed took nine wickets between them. Rasel and Shahadat each took four wickets. In 2022, at Mount Maunganui, Ebadot Hossain and Taskin Ahmed took nine wickets against New Zealand, with Ebadot alone claiming six.

Seven out of the eight instances where Bangladesh pacers took nine or eight wickets were on foreign soil. The highest tally of wickets by Bangladeshi pacers on home soil is eight, achieved last year against Afghanistan in Mirpur. In Afghanistan’s second innings, Shariful Islam took three wickets, Taskin Ahmed took four, and Ebadot got one. Although this is the first time Bangladeshi pacers have taken all ten wickets in an innings, this feat has occurred a total of 859 times in Test cricket, 158 times in ODIs, and 24 times in T20s.

Bangladeshi Pacers’ Best Collective Success in an Innings:

| Opponent | Wickets | Venue         | Year |
|———-|———|—————|——|
| Pakistan | 10      | Rawalpindi    | 2024 |
| Zimbabwe | 9       | Bulawayo      | 2001 |
| New Zealand | 9   | Hamilton      | 2001 |
| Sri Lanka | 9      | Colombo       | 2005 |
| New Zealand | 9   | Mount Maunganui | 2022 |