Once upon a time, no one took the Bangladesh cricket team seriously. An odd win every couple of years wasn’t really something that would cause many teams to show respect to the Tigers. However, as time passed, the team grew in strength.
And now it has come to the point where the nation’s cricket team are able to stand toe-to-toe with the very best. Bangladesh’s recent performances in the Champions Trophy are a testament to how far this team have come. Gone are the days when they were ridiculed as the minnows of the cricketing world.
Indeed, the growing animosity between India and Bangladesh serves as a witness to the Tigers’ rise. These days, there is just as much uproar and hype when Bangladesh play India as there is when the Men in Blue take on Pakistan.
To be fair, Bangladesh have often stopped the Indian cricket team in the most unexpected of ways. Keeping this in mind, here are the 5 times when a Bangladeshi player got the better of India.
#5 Taskin Ahmed on his debut
Indian fans will remember this game, not because of Taskin’s debut, but more so for Stuart Binny’s miracle spell that helped India win after almost entering the jaws of defeat.
Taskin Ahmed burst onto the scene during the Bangladesh Premier League in 2013, taking 8 wickets in 4 games and shooting himself to stardom. His performances prompted the selectors to give him a debut against India the following year in 2014 – and he rocked the Indian batting line up with his raw pace.
The pacer bowled eight overs in the game and took five wickets while giving away only 28 runs and bundling Indian for an embarrassing 105 runs. However, the young pacer’s efforts went in vain as the Bangladeshi batsmen failed to chase even that.
Stuart Binny’s six-wicket haul whilst conceding only four runs overshadowed the express pacer’s heroics as Bangladesh were wrapped up for a humiliating 58 runs.
#4 Mustafizur Rahman on his debut
It seems as though Bangladeshi pacers just love to make their debuts against the Indian batting line-up. The Men in Blue have one of the best batting line-ups in the world, but that didn’t matter to Mustafizur Rahman as the then 19-year-old bamboozled Rohit Sharma and co. with his wizardry on the ball.
His slower ones could not be picked by the Indian batsmen. While chasing 308, the Indian openers – Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – started very well, forming a 95 run stand before Taskin Ahmed got the wicket of Dhawan.
After that, it was the Mustafizur show as he went on to pick the major wickets of Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin. He ended with figures of 5 for 50 in 9.2 overs and Bangladesh won the game by 79 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
It was a moment of joy for the Bangladeshis as they could now genuinely dream of winning a series against India. Their dreams were all but realised when…
#3 Mustafizur did even better in his second game
The hopes of the Indian fans were extinguished in the very next game by the same bowler. While India hoped that Mustafizur would turn out to be a one-game wonder, he bettered his performance with a devastating spell.
No one would have believed that the young teenager was playing in just his second ODI game as the maturity he showed was beyond his age. It was not just about the slower ones or the variations, it was more about the way he pitched the ball in the right areas and worked hard to beat the batsmen by bowling to their weaknesses.
In this game, the Indians batted first on a relatively good batting track. However, Rohit Sharma’s first ball duck at the youngster’s hands shook the team to their core as they were dismantled for a measly 200 runs.
Mustafizur finished with a career-best spell of 6 wickets, giving away only 43 runs.
#2 Mushfiqur Rahim in Asia Cup 2012
The Asia Cup of 2012 was the true beginning of Bangladesh’s rise in world cricket. While the Tigers suffered somewhat of a decline the following year in 2013, the Asia Cup in 2012 was the turning point in the Bangladesh cricket team’s history, coinciding with the appointment of Mashrafe Mortaza as ODI captain in 2014.
As India took on Bangladesh in the Asia Cup, Sachin Tendulkar scored his much-hyped 100th international century. However, it was perhaps what cost India the game because the rate at which the century came truly held back the side to the point where they ended up at least 30 runs short.
Nevertheless, the way then Bangladesh captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, batted in the game was truly remarkable. The wicketkeeper-batsman came in to bat with 14.1 overs to go while the team still required 134 runs to win – almost 10 an over.
What Rahim did after that was something to behold. While Shakib also played a glorious innings of 49 from 31 balls, Rahim made sure that he left the pitch with the win in the bag as he smashed the Indian bowlers all over the park and scored 46 runs from only 25 balls.
His innings gave Bangladesh their second ever win against India in a major tournament, with the first coming through a…
#1 Mashrafe special at World Cup 2007
Bangladeshi fans might forget this game, but the fans of the Indian cricket team will never be able to wipe this from their memory – no matter how hard they try. This was supposed to be the World Cup where Sachin Tendulkar would finally go on to lift the coveted trophy – but it wasn’t to be, and Mashrafe Mortaza was one of the prime reasons.
The current captain of the ODI team, Mortaza was at his brilliant best against India during the World Cup encounter in 2007. Taking the early wickets of Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa, he set the tone for the likes of Mohd. Rafique and Abdur Razzak to dismantle the middle order before coming back to finish off the tailenders.
He ended with figures of 38 for 4 after 9.3 overs. India were halted at 191, which was chased down courtesy of superb efforts from Tamim Iqbal and Shakib-al-Hasan. But Mashrafe remains the hero of the game.
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