Bangladesh did it in Darwin on Sunday, in the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, far from the country’s traditional cricketing centres. In their first Test on Australian soil in 23 years, the Tigers beat the world’s leading Test side by nine wickets, producing one of the biggest results in their cricketing history.
It was not merely the margin of victory that made the result extraordinary. Bangladesh dominated the Test for three and a half days, taking control almost from the outset and never allowing Australia to regain it. The hosts were bowled out for 198 in their first innings. Bangladesh responded with 426 and then dismissed Australia for 284 before knocking off the 57-run target with ease.
More importantly, they did it against an Australia side that entered the series at the top of the World Test Championship standings and with its leading pace attack available.
That makes the victory more than an upset. It challenges the long-held notion that Test cricket belongs principally to a select group of established powers.
For much of their first two decades as a Test nation, such a victory would have seemed almost unimaginable for Bangladesh. They won only 14 of their first 119 Tests. In recent years, however, the picture has changed dramatically. Bangladesh have won 12 of their last 24 Tests, with landmark victories in Mount Maunganui against New Zealand, a 2-0 sweep in Pakistan, and now their first-ever Test victory in Australia.
There are still weaknesses. Bangladesh were beaten by an innings in Zimbabwe only weeks ago, a reminder that their rise is neither linear nor complete. But that is precisely the point: developing Test nations need regular opportunities to play the best teams if they are to bridge the gap.
Instead, Bangladesh have too often had to fight simply to get through the door.
When Bangladesh last toured Australia in 2003, former Australia batter David Hookes wrote in a column that Steve Waugh should send them in to bat, bowl them out before lunch, bat until tea and then dismiss them again before stumps.
“The reality is that Bangladesh doesn’t deserve to be in Test cricket,” Hookes wrote.
Dismissive assessments of Bangladesh’s Test credentials continued long after that series, including from prominent former players such as India’s Virender Sehwag and England’s Michael Vaughan.
Even Pat Cummins, Australia’s current captain, offered a revealing insight into the hierarchy of priorities earlier this year. Speaking on a podcast, he said Australia’s players had opted out of The Hundred because they had two Tests against Bangladesh, before adding that this would not “be the case forever.”
The Darwin victory puts that comment in a different context.
There is an irony in where this historic victory took place. Australia’s first Test against Bangladesh since 2003 was played in the Northern Territory partly because the country’s major southern venues were occupied by Australian rules football during the winter. The series itself was brought forward from its original 2027 slot to make room for Australia’s 150th anniversary Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
This is not the first time Bangladesh’s Test ambitions have suffered from scheduling and commercial considerations. A planned two-Test tour of Australia in 2008 was ultimately reduced to three ODIs in Darwin after Cricket Australia cited a clash with the Beijing Olympics. Ten years later, the Australian cricket authorities cancelled another proposed bilateral visit, citing a lack of commercial viability. Neither of those Test series ever materialised. None of this makes Darwin less significant. If anything, it adds to the significance of the victory.
Australia’s cricket authorities should now consider whether Bangladesh really belong on the margins of their calendar. If the Tigers are good enough to beat Australia comprehensively, they are good enough to be invited back more often and to play in the country’s major cricketing centres.
But the bigger question is for the International Cricket Council (ICC). Test cricket continues to face debate over a proposed two-tier structure. The idea, discussed as a way of making top-level Tests more commercially attractive, would divide the 12 full members into two divisions, with promotion and relegation linking them. Earlier proposals placed Bangladesh in the lower tier alongside Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland. The argument for such a system is understandable. Test cricket needs context, stronger commercial returns, and a sustainable calendar. But Darwin also highlights the danger of trying to solve those problems by narrowing the game.
If Bangladesh were confined largely to a second tier, the world could miss results like this. More importantly, Bangladesh would lose the chance to measure themselves against the best and discover that they can beat them.
Test cricket should not become an exclusive club. It is at its best when teams outside the established group are given meaningful opportunities, allowed to improve and, eventually, given the chance to beat the bigger sides. Bangladesh did exactly that in Darwin. The ICC should take note.
Atique Anam is deputy sports editor at The Daily Star.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries, and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.
