Series shared, respect earned
Najmul Hossain Shanto was in no rush.
The second Test between Bangladesh and Australia had ended inside two days, with the hosts thumping the visitors by an innings and 51 runs on Sunday.
The match ended in 750 deliveries – the least number of balls bowled in a completed Test on Australian soil in 100 years – and Bangladesh failed to breach the three-figure mark in both innings for the first time in their Test history.
Other than Shoriful Islam’s seven-wicket haul – the first for a Bangladeshi pacer in Tests – it was a horrible showing for the tourists in Mackay, and one of the worst-ever defeats in their Test history.
After a defeat like that, it would be understandable for a captain to want to avoid the press.
Bangladesh captain Shanto reportedly made the media wait for around 25 minutes after his Australian counterpart Pat Cummins’ post-match press conference.
But he wasn’t avoiding the media; it turned out he was just engrossed in a conversation with former Australia batter-turned-commentator Mike Hussey on the sidelines after the match.
When he finally arrived at the press conference, he faced a packed house. The Bangladeshi contingent of reporters, understandably, hung back, but so did the Australian reporters.
The same media that kept adding the word ‘minnow’ whenever it mentioned Bangladesh, stayed back to ask questions to a captain whose team had just been demolished by Australia.
Why? Because the same ‘minnow’ team that were blown away in Mackay had handed the hosts a nine-wicket defeat in the first Test – a result soon not to be forgotten by anyone involved in Australian cricket.
Two innings defeats and history in between
This is not Bangladesh’s first innings defeat on Australian soil, not even their first such defeat in the 2026 tour.
The Tigers had begun their first red-ball tour Down Under in 23 years with an innings and 38-run defeat in a three-day practice match against a Cricket Australia XI in Darwin.
In that match, left-arm seamer Campbell Thompson ran through Bangladesh with an eight-wicket haul, to bundle them out for 54 – their lowest team total of the tour.
In Mackay, it was Mitchell Starc who demolished the tourists, claiming a 22-ball five-wicket haul in the first innings before finishing with figures of 6-12, then completing his 10-fer with four scalps in the second innings as Bangladesh were bundled out for 64 and 95 in both innings, respectively.
In between the two one-sided losses, stands the first Test in Darwin, when the Tigers pulled off the most remarkable victory in their Test history.
Hasan Mahmud set the tone on the opening day with six-fer that bundled out Australia for 198. On Day 2, Tanzid Hasan Tamim scored his maiden Test ton, while Shanto made a valiant 84.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s half-century stood out on the third day, earning them a sizeable 228-run lead, and his five-wicket haul on the fourth made Bangladesh’s win an eventuality.
Australia were expected to come hard at Bangladesh in the second Test, which they did.
The Tigers could not replicate the magic of Darwin on a spicy pitch in Mackay, as expected.
Australia squared up the series with a comprehensive victory, as many predicted.
But did the defeat in Mackay turn the triumph in Darwin into a fluke – not in the least.
Respect earned
At the press conference, when Shanto was asked whether he would’ve preferred to have started the tour in Mackay and finish it on a winning note in Darwin.
“Have you forgotten the first Test? I sure haven’t. I feel the people of the country have also not forgotten,” he replied.
The triumph in Darwin stands tall as the biggest achievement in Bangladesh's 26-year journey as a Test nation.
It was a statement win against the team that didn’t consider Bangladesh worthy of playing Tests on Australian soil – and was hosting them this time only to fulfill the obligation of the ICC World Test Championship.
Even then, it did not open the gates of its iconic Test venues – instead invited Bangladesh to its cricketing backwaters.
Bangladesh had to travel without their ace speedster Nahid Rana, did not have their only left-arm seam option Shoriful Islam available for the first Test and were up against the No.1 ranked Test side with a full-strength squad.
Still, the Tigers slayed the Kangaroos in their own backyard.
Any talk of it being a fluke win after the debacle in Mackay should not be entertained, as in Test cricket, there are no flukes.
Flukes can occur in T20Is and ODIs, where the fate of a game is determined in one day, but Test is a fluke-free format by design.
In a format with four innings and up to 15 sessions, each team has ample time to get back into the match. Only the team that plays better across the days comes up victorious, like Bangladesh did against Australia.
The defeat in Mackay did not sully the triumph in Darwin, what it did was highlight that the one win has not transformed Bangladesh cricket.
As the series ended 1-1, the Bangladesh players left the field with their heads held high.
They did not finish as victors in Mackay, but they won something Australia doesn’t hand out easily – the right to be taken seriously.