Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman FaceTimes players to congratulate on epic Darwin win | WATCH
Mehidy Hasan Miraz celebrates a wicket in Darwin (Source: BCB)
Published - 16 Aug 2026, 07:53 PMā¢ Read time - 2 mins
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman FaceTimed the men's cricket team after its epic nine-wicket win over Australia in Darwin in the first of the two-match Test series on August 16. The Bangla Tigers registered their maiden Test win on Aussie soil, and what made it sweeter was that it came against a formidable unit under the leadership of Pat Cummins.
PM Rahman congratulated the Bangladesh players after their historic feat, and it added to the celebrations in the dressing room. The magnitude of the triumph can be gauged by Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto's words: "the biggest win so far for Bangladesh in any format".
"This is the biggest win so far for Bangladesh in any format," Shanto said at the presentation. "Going forward, we will do something special in the future.
"Very happy and proud of myself and the way the boys played. We did lot of hard work and very happy to win."
Shanto lauded the pace battery and said there has been a radical shift in the mindset of the pacers and they want to play and perform in red-ball cricket. He credited senior blokes, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque, for encouraging the fast bowlers to do so.
When you get a call from the Prime Minister! š§š© Oh, what a joy! Prime Minister Tarique Rahman Calls the Tigers After Historic Australia Win! š§š©š„ pic.twitter.com/maldszfN9j
ā Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) August 16, 2026
Hasan Mahmud was the standout pacer for the tourists. It was his career-best haul of 6/55 in the first innings, which put Bangladesh in the ascendancy on day 1 at the Marrara Cricket Ground.
"That [the rise of fast bowlers] is the biggest change in Bangladesh cricket in the Test format," Shanto said. "Normally, five-six years ago, the pace bowlers didn't want to play Test cricket since we didn't play enough Test cricket. But in the last two-three years we've been playing lots of Test matches and the boys are giving importance to Test format.
"They now want to play, they want to perform because they want to be world-class. That is the mindset they now have. Especially the senior guys, like Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque, they helped them a lot to encourage to play more Test cricket. So those are the areas they think and mindset."