Mushfiqur Set For Historic Australia Tour

For Mushfiqur Rahim, the occasion must have felt surreal as he walked inside the DXC Arena, traditionally known as Marrara Cricket Ground, for Bangladesh’s first training session ahead of the two-Test series against Australia.

Bangladesh is touring Australia for the first Test series since 2003, where they will face a stiff task against a full-strength home team in a World Test Championship contest.

The visitors kicked off their preparations with a rigorous training session at the DXC Arena, which will host the inaugural Test on August 13.

The first wave of Bangladesh Test team members landed in Darwin on Saturday, and Litton Das and the rest of the touring group, who departed Dhaka on August 2, are scheduled to join them shortly.

Among those spending long hours in the nets on the opening day was the veteran Mushfiqur Rahim.

While most squad members are looking forward to their first Test in Australia, Mushfiqur sees the tour differently. Two decades into a remarkable international career, the veteran wicketkeeper-batter is finally getting the opportunity to play a Test on Australian soil.

Mushfiqur is the lone cricketer from Bangladesh’s famed ‘Fab Five’ still totally devoted to life on the field. His contemporaries – Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah – have all progressed in various paths.

Shakib, who left Bangladesh following the July 2024 movement that led to the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League administration, continues to play franchise cricket around the world. However, his political association as a former Awami League Member of Parliament has come to define him as much as his cricket.

Mortaza, too, has mainly remained away from public life since the political upheaval. Having entered politics in 2018 under the Awami League banner and contested successive general elections, his public identification has progressively moved from cricketer to politician.

Tamim, meanwhile, took over as Bangladesh Cricket Board president after retiring from international cricket, while Mahmudullah has already began preparing for life after playing.

Although Mahmudullah continues to appear in domestic cricket, he has also taken up mentorship responsibilities inside the BCB structure.

He presently works with the Under-19 team and is scheduled to accompany Bangladesh A as batting coach on their Australia tour for the Top End T20 Series, indicating his desire to continue coaching after retirement.

Mushfiqur, on the other hand, has never wavered in his dedication to the game. As his peers moved into politics, administration, and coaching, he continued to do what had defined his career: be among the first to arrive at training and the last to depart.

Mushfiqur, 39, is Bangladesh’s only cricketer to have played more than 100 Tests. Despite a 21-year Test career, this is his first visit of Australia.

Those close to the veteran claim he expected Bangladesh to return to Australia much sooner after leading the team to a historic Test victory against Australia in Mirpur in 2017. Instead, the opportunity never arrived, and he had to wait nearly a decade for his first Test in Australia’s backyard.

The extended delay has only honed his preparedness. In the lead-up to the series, Mushfiqur is known to have prepared painstakingly on his own, intending to leave no stone untouched.

After chatting to friends living in Australia, he familiarised himself with the circumstances expected at this time of year and even decided to carry a little lighter bat than normal, believing the surfaces would allow him to play more square of the wicket.

He has also focused on handling the inswinger, well aware of the threat posed by Australia’s pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Habibul Bashar, former Bangladesh captain and the BCB’s top selector, says the veteran is finally getting the payoff for years of unrelenting work.

“Every Test match is important, even the ones against Zimbabwe, from a personal side, this will probably be his (Mushfiqur) last Test match in Australia,” Habibul added.

He will undoubtedly attempt to do something spectacular, and he deserves something like this (the opportunity to play against Australia in their own backyard) for all of his efforts,” he said.

For Mushfiqur, this visit is about far more than another Test assignment. It is the culmination of a more than two-decade-long dream, and it may be his only opportunity to leave his mark on Australian land.

He will enjoy every moment, knowing better than anyone that another opportunity like this may never come again.