Bangladesh have secured their first Test victory against Pakistan, beating them by ten wickets in Rawalpindi, 23 years after first having played against them. Twenty-one years ago, they had come close to achieving this feat, before Inzamam-ul-Haq snatched victory from the jaws of certain defeat for Pakistan.

Pakistan became the ninth team Bangladesh have registered a victory against in Test cricket today (August 25). On a placid Rawalpindi wicket, they racked up 565 in the first innings, taking a decisive 117-run lead, before bowling Pakistan out for 146 and chasing a 30-run target with ten wickets to spare.

However, if not for an Inzamam special 21 years back, Pakistan would have become the first team to lose to Bangladesh in a Test match.

Multan 2003: When Bangladesh almost registered their first Test win

A strong start 

Having lost the first two Tests of the series in Karachi and Peshawar by seven and nine wickets respectively, Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud won the toss and elected to bat first on a greenish wicket. Three Pakistan played made their debuts in the match - Yasir Ali, Salman Butt, and Farhan Adil. 

A patient 38 off 101 balls by opener Javed Omar and masterful 72 at No.3 by Habibul Bashar gave Bangladesh a strong foundation. Small but useful contributions from the middle order meant they finished at 281, with each of their top nine reaching double figures. Umar Gul, who had made his Test debut earlier in the series, starred with 4-86. 

In response, Pakistan never got going. None of their top six reached 40, and none of their bottom five reached 10. The duo of Mahmud and left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique shared nine wickets amongst them as Pakistan folded for 175 on day two, handing Bangladesh a crucial 106-run lead.

Also read: PAK vs BAN: How many teams have lost a Test match after declaring in the first innings?

That Rashid Latif catch

With a Test match on the line and a reputation to save, Pakistan came out all guns blazing with the ball. Bangladesh were reduced to 41-4. Alok Kapali and Rajin Saleh then started stitching a partnership which threatened to take the lead beyond Pakistan's reach. Driven by desperation, the veteran Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif then pulled off one of, if not the most infamous caught-behinds in the history of the game. 

Kapali edged a ball by the debutant Yasir Ali through to the wicketkeeper, which he quite obviously grassed. The position Latif found himself in, however, meant that it wasn't visible to the on-field umpires that the ball had touched the ground. Pakistan and Latif claimed the catch and Kapali had to go. 

 

 

Latif would later admit to having claimed an unfair catch, however he didn't express any regrets about it: "You do everything for your country. I did realise immediately that the ball rolled out of my hand and it touched the ground.

"I conveyed that to my senior players. I gave an option to recall the batsman but it was decided that we will let him go. I have no regrets. It's a war and we both were playing cricket and I never surrender, so I had to do what was needed. Call it cheating but I have no regret at all."

As it turned out, Latif was handed a five-match ban which saw him miss the entirety of the ODI series that followed, and he eventually never played a Test match for Pakistan again.

Despite the punishments and all the negative publicity, Latif's act fetched him the desired result. Bangladesh were bowled out for 154, setting Pakistan a daunting, but not impossible target of 261.

Also read: WTC points table: Updated World Test Championship standings after England and Bangladesh secure wins

Inzamam magic

The hosts lost their second wicket at 62 in the run-chase, brining Inzamam-ul-Haq to the crease. However, a wretched phase of play between the 22nd and the 31st over saw them lose three wickets to collapse to 99-5. Latif, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Shabbir Ahmed all added between 30-40 runs with Inzamam, but when the eighth wicket fell at 205 with Pakistan needing another 56 runs, Bangladesh could smell their first-ever Test victory.

Inzamam, meanwhile, coming off a dry run having scored a solitary half-century in his last ten Test knocks and a combined 19 runs in six innings at the 2003 World Cup, was playing the innings of his life.

He reached his 100 in the 75th over, batting with Umar Gul and shielding him as much as possible. The ninth-wicket partnership between the two lasted for 21.5 overs, of which Gul faced 50 deliveries for five runs.

With Pakistan, Inzamam, and a game situation where an established batter is trying to keep strike, a run out is never far away. With four runs left for victory, Gul was run out by Mohammad Ashraful, giving Bangladesh a renewed sense of hope. They managed to bowl four deliveries at Yasir Ali, but the debutant No.11 kept them out, taking a single off the last of those and bringing Inzamam back on strike with one ball left in Mahmud's over. Sensing this was no time to hang around, Inzamam struck the decisive boundary on the last ball of the over that practically revived his career, saved Pakistan embarrassment at home and left the Bangladesh players crying. 

Twenty-one years later and around 500 kilometers away at Rawalpindi, Bangladesh finally had their moment.

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