Yesterday marked the end of an 18-month drought of victory in both football and cricket in the country.
In cricket, Taijul Islam’s all-round heroics steered the Bangladesh cricket team to an intense three-wicket win against Zimbabwe on the third day of their first Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
The 22-year-old earned a place in the record books with the best bowling figure in an innings in Bangladesh’s history – 8 for 39 runs – before he showed excellent courage to help Mushfiqur Rahim land the win, which broke their 14-match losing streak in all formats of cricket, and 18 months after Bangladesh’s last Test win.
In the other popular sport in the country, the Bangladesh football team rode on the solitary penalty strike from veteran forward Jahid Hasan Emily to beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in their second and final game of the SS Steel Fifa international friendly series in Rajshahi.
The home side in the process clinched the two-match series 1-0 as the first match in Jessore ended in a 1-1 draw. The match also ended their 18-month winning drought at home.
However, in the Bangladesh Zimbabwe Test, the achievement appeared to be slipping away at one point.
Zimbabwe resumed the day on 5 runs without loss and had no answer to the spinning deliveries of Taijul as they were bundled out for 114 in their second innings within five overs after lunch.
Taijul’s bowling should have heralded a dominant victory, but familiar failings were exposed in the batting department as he found himself in the middle again, at No 9, striking the winning boundary to overhaul a target of 101.
With only 101 runs to score, the home side faltered at the beginning, losing three wickets without any run on the scorecard – an event that has happened only twice before in Tests. However, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah added 46 to revive the innings before they were reduced to 82 for seven wickets.
Mushfiqur not only kept his head cool, but also ensured that Taijul remained calm as they eventually bagged their first win against an ICC full member in 2014 and also take a 1-0 lead in their three-match Test series.