New Delhi:
It indeed was a historic day for Bangladesh cricket on Wednesday as the country became the tenth nation to play 100 Tests when the 'Bengal Tigers' took to the field against SriLankla at the P Sara Oval in Colombo.
The 'Century of Tests' milestone in Bangladesh coincides with yet another landmark in international cricket, the 140th anniversary of Test cricket.
With the turn of the millennium, Bangladesh made gigantic leaps in their cricketing journey as they entered the elite league of cricketing nations by getting the coveted Test Status.
Coming out of the sub-continent region which had left an impregnable mark in the game with formidable powerhouses like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh faced an uphill start from the very start to prove their mantle on the big stage. They announced themselves in emphatic style on the international stage in November 2000 in Dhaka against India who were led by Sourav Ganguly for the first time. The start looked promising as they became only the second team after Zimbabwe to post over 400 in their inaugural Test.
The impressive start dint last long as they remained the bashing boys in the longer form with only one elusive victory in their first 27 Tests. They had to wait as long as 35 Test matches to secure their first series win. Critics and Pundits pondered hard over whether they even deserved to be given Test status.
Amid all the criticism there were sparks of brilliance once in a while as they came close to beating Pakistan in Multan in 2003.The 'Bangla Boys' gave quite the scare to the Kiwis in 2008 and came really close to beating an all-conquering Australian side.
To be really honest, their cricketing journey to 100 Tests has been chequered by inconsistent performances and lack of mental fortitude to take on the very best even in their own backyard. While they had talented men both with bat and ball in Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Ashraful who steered their ship clear during nascent days, they never quite had anyone who could go on to scale great heights in Test cricket.
The last five years has seen a resurgence with Bangladesh taking on the bigwigs as potential challengers. Bangladesh can no longer be taken as one of the minnows of cricket and the recent Test series against England was a testimony to their growing stature in the game's purist form.
While the Sachin's, Akram's, Jayasuriya's and Haq's cemented their place among the greats of the game, Bangladesh waved their flag high with their stalwarts in Sakib Al Hassan, Mashrafe Murtaza and Tamim Iqbal.
After a hard fought 99 Test matches which saw them struggling and battling with the very in top flight cricket, Bangladesh shall add a proud moment in the annals of their cricketing history by becoming the tenth nation to play 100 Tests.
