Mushfiqur Rahim sings the praises of Shakib Al Hasan after the historic win

A valiant Bangladeshi side picked up a thrilling victory against the mighty Aussies in the first Test match of the ongoing two-match series. Leading all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan stole the limelight with a brilliant 10 wicket haul as the Tigers restricted the Kangaroos 20 runs short of their target. Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim hailed the dazzling effort from Shakib Al Hasan which turned the momentum in his side’s favour.

Chasing a target of 265 runs, the Australians looked pretty comfortable with David Warner slamming a brilliant century and captain Steven Smith well rooted at the other side. The Aussie scoreboard stood at 158/2 when Shakib Al Hasan decided to write the script of the match with his own hands. The left arm spinner turned the tables by picking up both Warner and Smith in quick succession. Wickets fell at regular intervals after that as the Aussies found themselves on the brink of loss. The visitors were finally restricted to 244 by the hosts as the Asian side marked their maiden Test win over Australia.

What Mushfiqur said:

“It’s a great feeling beating Australia, especially Shakib and Tamim [Iqbal, who scored 71 and 78] were outstanding,” Mushfiqur said.

“The performance has been consistent. Our spinners – Taijul [Islam] and Shakib – were brilliant. There is a lot of room for improvement. With 150 runs [on the board] and eight wickets to take, the boys showed character.” he added. “Hopefully, in the next Test we will come harder and seal the series.” Mushfiqur stated.

Skipper Steven Smith stayed away from making any excuses and held Australia’s failure with the bat in the first innings as the primary reason for the loss. However, he mentioned that it was a competitive Test match and the Aussies are looking forward to the second chapter at Chittagong.

What Smith said:

“It was a great Test match,” Smith said. “Credit to Bangladesh the way they played in the first innings. We fought back after the Tamim-Shakib partnership.” added the skipper.

“We let ourselves down in the first innings. I thought it was pretty difficult to bat in the second innings. The tail helped the batters around – no excuses for us. The wicket spun from the first day, as I said we let ourselves down with the bat in the first innings.” Smith claimed.

“Warner has worked very hard, he played particularly well to score a hundred. It is one of those wickets where you are never really in. We were not able to stick to our game plan as long as we could in the first innings.” added the number 1 Test batsman.

“We’re looking forward to the second game in Chittagong.” Smith concluded.