Cricket curiosities - Bangladesh special

Give me a cup of coffee and a Curiosities edition, any cricket curiosities, and I am all game. I will devour it like a novel. There are two ways to appreciate the noble game, I find. First by directly supporting your team, either live or on TV or another medium. The other is a vicarious reading of WG Grace and Ranjitsinhji's feats, thumbing brittle autumn-yellowish folios of books and letting the mind conjure up the images. To my great annoyance and frustration, I couldn't find one for Bangladesh.

A wise man once remarked: if you want to read a book, just create it. So, as I delved and dwelt further, the following outpouring resulted:

Charles Bannerman's record
Bannerman holds many records, not the least of which is scoring a century in his nation's Test debut. This in the first-ever Test in 1877. Among the persons to rival this feat is none other than Aminul "Bulbul" Islam, also known by the moniker "The Neil Armstrong of Cricket in China" for pioneering the sport there. Aminul became the third player after Bannerman and Dave Houghton to score centuries on their nations' Test debut: his 145 is the second-highest after Bannerman's 165 in the 1877 Test match. Only thing missing is a typical 19th century moustache to match the blazer!

Ashraful beats de Villiers
There is no rule in the book that says a double-bounce ball won't be a legal delivery. More than two - that is a clear no-ball. The wicket that resulted from the golden arm of Mohammad Ashraful to dismiss ABD will always be an oddity not only for Bangladesh, but for cricket annals in general.

An astounding partnership!
Following a monstrous 600-plus runs by Pakistan in their first innings, openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes launched into a counterattack. The remedial and calculated blows helped them amass 312 - the highest for the first wicket in a team's second innings. That's a beastly record.

As for the kicker... on the first ball of the innings, there was an lbw referral involving Tamim but the umpire's call prevailed and he remained not-out.

Captain zero
Habibul Bashar became the third to bag a pair on captaincy debut. It was against Zimbabwe in Harare in the 2003-04 season.

An unholy trinity
Hannan Sarkar will forever be entwined with Sunil Gavaskar but for all the wrong reasons. Along with Gavaskar, he holds the distinct record being dismissed on the first delivery of the Test match on three occasions. Sarkar's unholy trinity was the handicraft of West Indies' Pedro Collins.

Out of many, one
Elias Sunny engraved his name in the record books by taking a five-for on his T20I debut, and still remains the only one.

A cricket faux pas
Once Bangladesh played a match against Hong Kong and won by 116 runs. Yet the match caused much uproar for a Bangladeshi unwittingly bowling over no. 11.

Abul's one-hit wonder
Abul's sole claim to fame is for being the first No. 10 to score a century on Test debut in 110 years since Reggie Duff. He 123-ball 113 happened against West Indies, who won by ten wickets in Khulna.

Taijul's hat-trick
Taijul Islam is a slow-left armer who became the first person to achieve a hat-trick on ODI debut on December 1, 2014, against Zimbabwe. Bangladesh didn't have to wait long to see this record being matched, being on the receiving end when Kagiso Rabada of South Africa tore through their line-up for his 6 for 16. However, Taijul Islam will always be the first one to do so. He also has an eight-wicket haul in a Test innings, the best for a Bangladeshi.

Of course, there are also the curious cases of Sohag Gazi taking a hat-trick and scoring a century in a Test and Enamul Haque jnr being the youngest to take 10 wickets in Test… but the restaurant napkin only allows this much space!

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