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That’s what Bangladesh’s skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said in the pre-match press conference of the Rawalpindi Test. It was an answer to a statement saying Bangladesh had never won a Test in Pakistan.
Confidence to change the status quo - that’s what Shanto showed with that statement. Sportspersons are habitual of going against the odds. That’s what makes sporting endeavours fun, after all. However, this wasn’t just any underdog captain addressing the media in an away Test series.
This skipper's team had to leave their nation during a government transition after a student revolution. As a result, Bangladesh arrived in Pakistan earlier than they were scheduled to. While the nation suffered through rioting and violence, and innocent lives were being lost, these men were thousands of kilometres away, getting ready to play an away Test series where all odds were stacked against them.
Romantic would have loved to juxtapose the struggles of protestors with the gigantic nature of the challenge their cricket team were facing. Here, they miss the point of how it’s disrespectful to the entire movement and each of the Bangladeshi citizens who went on the streets to demand their 'freedom'.
Regardless, they do have a point in there: How can cricket be played in a vacuum? How can one be oblivious to each member of the Bangladeshi squad also being a citizen who would have their own motivations and reasons to uplift this new Bangladesh?
That motivation was reflected in the focus and intense passion with which each Bangladeshi played this Test at Rawalpindi.
Shadman Islam opened the innings only because Mahmudul Hasan Joy got injured. But he batted with immense discipline after spending almost two days on the field. His 93 wasn’t just full of fortitude but had the right mix of aggression, showing how purposefully Bangladesh batted right from the top.
Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim did exactly that and much more. Rahim, especially, used all his experience of playing Test cricket for nearly two decades and became the backbone of the innings. He made the Pakistanis bowl 341 deliveries at him, scored 191 runs and took his team to a decisive first-innings lead.
Such critical performances throughout the batting order in the same game are rare for Bangladesh. The occasion became even more special when Litton Das made a fiery fifty that neutralised Pakistan's second new ball threat. Without that innings, Bangladesh could well have fallen short in the first innings.
Bangladesh's next 'Avengers Assemble' moment was the entire second innings with the ball. Right from pacers Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam and Nahid Rana to the spin duo of Shakib and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, all the tigers roared in Rawalpindi, and the Men in Green had to take cover.
Shakib, especially, was extra pumped. He even had a small altercation when he threw the ball back to keeper in aggression after Mohammad Rizwan purposefully delayed his delivery. And to think that he might be in trouble if he sets foot in Bangladesh!
Bangladesh hardly win any Tests away from home. In fact, they had won only six Test matches overseas in their entire history. That’s how big this win was.
Read - Rahim donates prize money to flood victims, Shanto pays tribute to protesters
All these players came together and led their team to their first-ever Test victory against Pakistan in Pakistan. You can understand the incredulity of this achievement by the fact that this was only the second Test match they won away from home in the subcontinent! Maybe that's why the Pakistani crowd in Rawalpindi carried Bangladeshi flags and cheered loudly for them as soon as the victory was attained.
With their nation writing a new script for itself through sheer willpower and confidence, the Bangladeshi Tigers embodied that very spirit and gave their people another reason to smile. After all, the status quo isn’t changed everyday, and so are records.
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