Historic cricket matches: 5 biggest upsets in Tests
WITH Bangladesh cricket team registering a big upset over Australia cricket team in the first Test in Dhaka yesterday, and West Indies cricket team sealing a historic win against England at Headingley on Tuesday, Hindustan Times takes a look at five biggest upsets in Test cricket history
The spirit and passion that has characterised Bangladesh in cricketing world was evident in Dhaka on Wednesday. Riding on Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round show and Tamim Iqbal’s twin fifties, Bangladesh registered their first ever win over Australia in Tests, beating Steve Smith’s men by 20 runs inside four days.
“Pretty confident, aren’t they? I think Bangladesh have won only nine out of their 100 games. So a 2-0 win is a very confident prediction,” Australia cricket team skipper Steve Smith had mocked at talks of a Bangladesh whitewash before the commencement of the Test series. Now, a whitewash seems likely.
Whatever happens in the last Test, Wednesday’s result will go down as one of the biggest upsets in Test cricket.
Here’s a look at the five other big upsets in Test cricket: New Zealand beat West Indies by a wicket,
Dunedin, 1980 West Indies were the all-conquering side, having crushed Australia in their own backyard 2-0 in 1979/80. They arrived in New Zealand but were in for a surprise in the first Test in Dunedin.
Richard Hadlee’s 5/34 skittled out West Indies for 140 and a gritty 65 from Bruce Edgar gave the Kiwis a 109-run lead. Windies responded in the second innings with 212 thanks to Desmond Haynes’ 105, setting the hosts a target of 104. Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by seven wickets,
Peshawar, 1998 After putting Pakistan in to bat, Heath Streak and Henry Olonga shared seven wickets between them to bundle out the hosts for 296.
In reply, Neil Johnson slammed his maiden century, but that wasn’t enough for a lead as Zimbabwe could only manage 238. But Olonga and Mpumelelo Mbangwa triggered a collapse that saw Pakistan score only 103. Chasing 162, Zimbabwe romped home with seven wickets in hand. Murray Goodwin top scored with an unbeaten 73. Bangladesh beat England by 108 runs, Dhaka,
2016 The Mushfiqur Rahim-led Bangladesh recorded their first Test win over England. Thanks to young off-spinning sensation Mehedi Hasan, they took all 10 wickets in a single session to seal the win. With this, they squared the two-Test series 1-1.
Chasing 273, England seemed to be cruising when Alastair Cook and Ben Duckett guided them to 100/0 at tea on Day 3. But Mehedi, playing only his second Test, took six wickets to trigger a dramatic collapse in the final session. The visitors crumbled to 164 all out to suffer their first ever defeat against Bangladesh in 10 Tests. Mehedi Hasan, who took seven wickets in the first Test at Chittagong, finished with figures of 12/159 in the second. Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by four wickets,
Colombo, 2017 Chasing 191, Tamim Iqbal struck a fine 82 before captain Mushfiqur Rahim (22*) helped Bangladesh cross the finish line on a dramatic final day.
It sealed their first win over Sri Lanka in the format as they levelled the two-Test series 1-1. The fact that it came on their century of Tests added to the weight of the triumph. Bangladesh became the fourth team to win their 100th Test after Australia, Pakistan and West Indies. The victory stoked hopes of Bangladesh becoming a force to be reckoned with. West Indies beat England by five wickets,
Headingley, Leeds, 2017 Shai Hope (147 and 118 not out) became the first player in history to record two centuries in a first-class game at Headingley, while Kraigg Brathwaite came close to achieving the same landmark — scoring 134 and 95 as West Indies defeated England in their own backyard for the first time since 2000.
It was a welcome win for Windies cricket, which has suffered a massive down-slide since the standoff between players and WICB. Together, they (Hope and Brathwaite) took West Indies to what was only their third Test victory overseas since 2000 — excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh — and it showed they can still compete at the highest level. — Hindustan Times.