From the great escape in the historic one-off Test in 2000 to Sachin Tendulkar’s highest Test score (248) in 2004 and Zaheer Khan’s career-best figures (seven for 87) in 2010, the Indian team’s eastward journeys to the neighbouring country have often provided memorable moments for the fans of Test cricket back home.
This time, the one-off Test, starting at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium here on Wednesday, will launch Virat Kohli as India’s full-time Test captain, formally taking over after leading the team in Australia following M.S. Dhoni’s decision to quit Test cricket.
But nothing can beat the thrill of a pleasant November almost 15 years ago with an overflowing stadium marking the historic occasion.
Two new captains, Naimur Rahman and Sourav Ganguly, turned up for their first toss in Test cricket, and the home side chose to bat amidst fanfare.
“A draw would be very good,” Rahman had said on the eve of the Test.
As it turned out, Bangladesh rode on the enthusiasm and the ecstasy of its newly-acquired Test status and Aminul Islam’s 145 to put up a formidable 400 in its first innings at the iconic Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka.
Till date, that remains Bangladesh’s highest score against India.
The visitors had a decent start before off-spinner Naimur, who ended up with six for 132, had them in trouble. India was reduced to 236 for six and faced the prospect of conceding the first-innings lead.
Rising to the challengeAlso facing personal embarrassment was Ganguly, who had considerable fan following in Bangladesh.
However, out in the middle, the young skipper did not lose hope. He exhorted his partner Sunil Joshi to show some resolve and put a price on his wicket.
“As soon as I entered the ground, Sourav said, ‘Joey, do whatever you want, but please don’t get out! I want you to remain not out with me,’” recalls Joshi.
The left-arm spinner who had captured five wickets in the home team’s first innings, responded well to his captain’s call as India closed the third day at 350 without any further damage.
Bangladesh’s 15 minutes of fame lasted three days before the 121-run seventh-wicket stand between Ganguly (84) and Joshi (92) took the visitors closer to the target.
On his way back to the dressing room, Ganguly asked Joshi to hang in there as India was still short of the hosts’ total when the skipper departed.
Joshi forged 56 runs with Ajit Agarkar for the eighth wicket and bailed the team out of an embarrassing situation.
“It would have been great had I scored my century and achieved that feat of five wickets and 100 runs in a Test. But it was a big confidence booster for Sourav as a skipper and for myself as a player,” said Joshi, who claimed three more wickets to be named Man-of-the-match.
India then bundled out Bangladesh for 91 in the second innings in less than a day and cruised to a nine-wicket win on day four.
Since then, Bangladesh has been a favourite hunting ground for many Indian players.
Tendulkar, Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir have had huge success with the bat while bowlers Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan have shone too.
With a modern Bangladesh team adopting a more serious approach in the five-day format, it will be interesting to see how the current crop of Indian players copes with the challenge in a bid to maintain the side’s fine record against the Tigers over the last decade-and-a-half.
