Daily Times

LAHORE: On May 31, 1999, Bangladesh pulled off an incredible triumph over Pakistan in the ICC World Cup match at Northampton, United Kingdom. It was watershed moment in the history of Bangladesh cricket and still considered a stain in the history of Pakistan cricket. Pakistan had defeated West Indies and Australia playing their best cricket in the preliminary round. They were unbeaten as well. Minnows Bangladesh, considered a mismatch against almost all opponents except Scotland, lost the games against the Test-playing nations convincingly. There was no chance that Pakistan would lose against the minnows, who were not even granted a Test status at the time. But Bangladesh surprised not only themselves, most certainly, but all and sundry as they played their best cricket of the season at a time when their application for Test match status was going to be a major talking point at the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting one month later.

Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by 62 runs. Batting first, Bangladesh made 223 and then bundled out skipper Wasim Akram and his charges for 161. In the four previous attempts in the competition, debutants Bangladesh had failed to post a total in excess of 200 (although they had successfully defended a total of 185 against Scotland). Wasim Akram passed on an innocuous yet an interesting statement in the post-match interview which said, “I’m happy we lost to our brothers.” The performance on May 31, 1999, was the epochal moment in their pursuit of getting the coveted Test status. In November 2000, Bangladesh got the Test status and they were mighty impressive in their debut Test. The result of the game is still viewed with scepticism. Wisden wrote, “Since this was a completely dead match, accusations of Pakistani match-fixing grew louder again. English bookmakers had rated Pakistan 33 to 1 on, and there were no reports of unusual betting, but inevitably there were rumours about the sub-continent’s illegal bookmakers.” Former skipper Saleem Malik condoned that the game was rigged. But nothing has been proved till date.