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Shoriful Islam spent the greatest weekend in Bangladesh cricket history in the wrong country.
The left arm pacer missed the Darwin Test, the one his teammates won by nine wickets against the world’s top ranked side. A grade one hamstring strain, picked up on the tour of Zimbabwe, had ruled him out before the series even began. So while Tanzid Hasan was making a century and Hasan Mahmud was taking six for 55, Shoriful was back in Dhaka, watching.
He made sure he was there in spirit, though. The photographs of the celebrations did the rounds, and there was Shoriful, a player who had done none of the bowling, celebrating like he had taken all ten wickets himself. It told you something about the mood in this Bangladesh squad, and about how much the result meant.
Now he gets his chance to be part of the sequel. Shoriful has passed his fitness test, and the Bangladesh Cricket Board has confirmed he has flown to Australia to join the squad ahead of the second Test in Mackay, which begins on August 22.
“He passed the fitness test as he was recovering from an injury and now he is fit to play,” Shahriar Nafees, the BCB’s cricket operations in charge, told reporters.
What Shoriful brings
The timing of his return is useful for reasons that go beyond simple depth. Bangladesh lead the series 1-0 and stand on the verge of something even their own supporters might have struggled to imagine a fortnight ago. The second Test is the chance to seal it, and Shoriful’s return gives captain Najmul Hossain Shanto another option in the seam department, which is exactly where Bangladesh’s Darwin success was built.
There is a nice symmetry to it all. Bangladesh’s attack in Darwin was led by their quicks, Mahmud chief among them, with Taskin Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain chipping in throughout. Shoriful, when fit, is arguably as dangerous as any of them, a left armer who brings an angle the others cannot.
That angle matters. Left arm pace is a different challenge for batters, and on a Mackay pitch that could offer early movement, the combination of Shoriful’s angle with the right arm trio of Mahmud, Taskin and Ebadot gives Shanto a genuinely varied attack to deploy. Slot Shoriful in, and the unit that dismantled Australia for 198 looks even more complete.
His record backs up the optimism. Shoriful has played 13 Tests, 46 ODIs and 63 T20Is since making his international debut in March 2021, and he has been a fixture of Bangladesh’s attack across formats ever since. He is not a newcomer finding his way; he is an established international who happened to be injured at the worst possible moment.
The hunger to play
The word from the camp is simple enough. “I’m always ready,” Shoriful has said. And the hunger is real.
He has not played a Test since the Zimbabwe tour, and the prospect of walking out in Mackay, in a series Bangladesh are suddenly favourites to win, is the kind of incentive that does not come around often for a Bangladeshi fast bowler. There is a sense, among those who know him, that Shoriful has been itching to get back, that watching from a distance in Darwin only sharpened his desire to be part of what comes next.
That desire matters. Bangladesh have never won a Test series in Australia, and they have never even been in a position to push for one. The chance to be part of a history making moment, to contribute to something that will be talked about for generations, is not lost on anyone in this squad. Shoriful, having already missed the first chapter, will be desperate to write his own name into the second.
Australia’s uneasy mood
Australia, for their part, are reeling. Their coach Andrew McDonald has admitted the standards slipped in Darwin, a rare concession from a man who has spent his tenure protecting his players. The selectors are meeting to discuss changes, and Marnus Labuschagne is fighting for his career after another lean run.
The last thing Australia need is a fresh, hungry Bangladesh seamer arriving with a point to prove. But that is exactly what they are getting. Shoriful’s return adds another layer of difficulty to an assignment that already looked far tougher than anyone in the Australian camp anticipated a week ago.
There is also the small matter of the pitch. Mackay’s Great Barrier Reef Arena is hosting its first ever men’s Test, and nobody is quite sure how the surface will play. If it offers anything for the seamers, as Australian pitches in the north of the country often do, then Bangladesh’s decision to add Shoriful to an already potent attack will look like a masterstroke.
The bigger picture
Bangladesh’s position is genuinely extraordinary. To have won the first Test of a series in Australia, against a full strength home side, is a result that has already rewritten the way the cricketing world talks about Bangladesh. To win the second and seal the series would be something else entirely.
Shoriful’s return strengthens the hand of a team that suddenly has every reason to believe. The squad that left for Australia carrying modest expectations now returns to the field in Mackay knowing that a series win is within reach. Shoriful, fit and hungry, adds one more reason for optimism.
The second Test begins on August 22, and Bangladesh will take the field with a simple, thrilling proposition in front of them: win, and the series is theirs. Shoriful Islam, having watched the first chapter from a distance, has earned the right to be part of the ending.
