When Test debutants Bangladesh handed Sourav Ganguly's star-studded Team India a fright to remember

When Zimbabwe became the ninth Test-playing nation in 1992, their inaugural Test, at the Harare Sports Club in their national capital, was against India. The hosts bossed the exchanges, riding on a century from skipper Dave Houghton to post 456 and then reducing India to 219 for seven, and in danger of being forced to follow on, before a seven-hour 104 from Sanjay Manjrekar allowed the embarrassed visitors to scramble to safety.

A little over eight years later, in November 2000, Bangladesh played their maiden Test, also against India, at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. That was in the fitness of things; after all, it was India, and more specifically Jagmohan Dalmiya, at the time the president of the International Cricket Council, who were responsible for Test status being bestowed on a fourth Asian nation (Afghanistan would complete the quintet in 2018).

Like against Zimbabwe, India were at the receiving end during the early part of their maiden faceoff against Bangladesh. The ‘rivalry’ has subsequently mushroomed into a pesky, at times ugly, one, but there was no unpleasantness in the first Test even if India had to stretch every sinew to beat back a brave early fight from the novices.

Aminul Islam, who also went by ‘Bulbul’, shored up the Bangladesh first innings after Naimur Rahman opted to bat in Sourav Ganguly’s first Test as captain. The visitors were at near full strength, Anil Kumble the only stalwart missing as he nursed a rotator cuff injury in his right shoulder that would necessitate surgery.

After a tentative start that produced two wickets in the first 75 minutes, it was all Bangladesh with Islam in the forefront and Habibul Bashar playing the support act. Bashar was dismissed by debutant Zaheer Khan for 71 but Islam didn’t pass up the opportunity to become Bangladesh’s first Test centurion, holding the innings together with a monumental 145 that spanned nearly nine hours. By the time left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi picked up his fifth wicket of the innings, Bangladesh had posted 400, an excellent effort against a formidable unit that often struggled for ideas and imagination against their dogged, feisty opponents.

Several of India’s top-order batters, including nightwatchman Murali Kartik at No. 3, got off to starts but no one kicked on with Naimur’s off-spin and Mohammad Rafique’s left-arm spin getting into the act. At 236 for six when Saba Karim, in his only Test, was dismissed by the Bangladesh skipper, India stared at a huge deficit when Ganguly was joined by fellow left-hander Joshi.

Joshi was a fine all-rounder with an excellent batting record in domestic cricket, though at the international level, he didn’t quite do justice to his batting skills. He couldn’t, however, have picked a more opportune time to rack up his highest Test score, a combative 92 that was almost as fluent as his skipper’s flowing 84. Ajit Agarkar weighed in with a neat 34 so that despite Naimur’s six for 132, India kept their noses in front, if only just, by opening up a lead of 29.

By the end of the third day in what a slow-scoring Test, India had reached 366 for seven, still 34 behind. That evening, a few of us met a former Bangladeshi batter who had played two ODIs in the 1980s at the Dhaka Club, and he was vehemently if amusingly insistent that his country had ‘allowed’ India to save face. He was nowhere to be seen the following day when Bangladesh ran out of steam in their second innings in the first reality check that life in the Test lane wasn’t entirely straightforward. Joshi, who had narrowly missed joining the elite club of cricketers with a five-for and a century in the same Test, took three wickets, as did his Karnataka mate Javagal Srinath, to send Bangladesh crashing to 91 all out, one of the largest differences between a team’s first- and second-innings totals in a Test. Only Bashar and Khaled Mashud touched double-digits, the rigours of nearly 10 hours in the field knocking the fight out of the fatigued Bangladeshis.

India’s target was a modest 63, knocked off in double quick time by Shiv Sunder Das, the third Indian debutant, and Rahul Dravid, who breezed to an unbeaten 41. That was Bangladesh’s first first-hand taste of Dravid’s class; on India’s next tour in 2004, his 160 made him the first batter to score centuries in all ten Test-playing nations (at the time, Afghanistan and Ireland had yet to attain Test status). It was also to trigger a period of domination by India, who have won all 11 of 13 matches between the teams to end decisively.

Brief scores

Bangladesh: 400 all out in 15.3.3 overs (Habibul Bashar 71, Aminul Islam 145, Akram Khan 35, Khaled Mashud 32, Hasibul Hossain 28; Zaheer Khan 2-49, Ajit Agarkar 2-68, Sunil Joshi 5-142) and 91 all out in 46.3 overs (Habibul Bashar 30; Javagal Srinath 3-19, Ajit Agarkar 2-16, Sunil Joshi 3-27) lost to India: 429 all out in 141.3 overs (Shiv Sunder Das 29, Sadagopal Ramesh 58, Murali Kartik 43, Rahul Dravid 28, Sourav Ganguly 84, Sunil Joshi 92, Ajit Agarkar 34; Naimur Rahman 6-132, Mohammad Rafique 3-117) and 64/1 in 15 overs (Rahul Dravid 41 n.o.) by nine wickets. Player of the Match: Sunil Joshi.