On the second day of the first Test against West Indies, Bangladesh’s 17-year-old off-spinner Nayeem Hasan became the youngest-ever player to claim a five-wicket haul on Test debut.
Batting first, Bangladesh made 324 before being bowled out early on day two. Nayeem was the fifth bowler used by Bangladesh, and by the time he bowled his first ball in Test cricket, West Indies were already three down, but he still managed to claim 5-61 off 14 overs.
First he had Roston Chase caught by Imrul Kayes, and then trapped Sunil Ambris for lbw. Shimron Hetmyer and Shane Dowrich led a recovery, but their 92-run partnership was ended by Mehidy Hasan, after which the West Indies lost three wickets, all to Nayeem, for just 25 runs. Nayeem bowled Jomel Warrican to confirm his five-wicket haul.
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Nayeem Hasan bats during the U19 World Cup in January[/caption]
In doing so, Nayeem became the third youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in Tests, behind Mohammad Amir (17y 257d) in second, and Nasim-Ul-Ghani, who was a mere 16 years and 303 days old when he took 5-116, against the West Indies in 1958. He also overtook fellow Bangladeshi Enamul Haque Jr, who claimed 6-45 against Zimbabwe in 2005, who was previously in third position.
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Despite Nayeem’s record-breaking heroics, which helped secure a lead of 78, Bangladesh’s superiority in the game is far certain. They have struggled in their second innings, and went to stumps 55-5 with a lead of 133.
All five second-innings wickets to fall so far have been claimed by spin. A repeat of Nayeem’s first-innings feat could well be on the cards.
