This is, without a doubt, the biggest day in the history of Bangladesh cricket.

To travel to Australia for a Test match, 23 years after their previous one there, and beat the number-one ranked team by nine wickets is monumental. Nobody gave Bangladesh a chance, but Najmul Hossain Shanto’s team has made history.

This is bigger than Kingston 2009, Sri Lanka 2017, New Zealand 2022 and Rawalpindi 2024. It even trumps their famous home victories over England in 2016 and Australia in 2017, because those matches were played on turning tracks tailored for Bangladesh’s spinners.

This epic victory came in Darwin, not Dhaka. Pacers took 14 of the 20 wickets to fall. Hasan Mahmud was outstanding, taking six wickets on day one and finishing with nine in the match. Taskin Ahmed claimed four wickets and then showed enormous resilience with the bat, facing more than 100 deliveries alongside Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Miraz was equally influential. His crucial 64 gave Bangladesh valuable runs, before he removed Steve Smith on day three and went on to claim his first five-wicket haul outside Asia.

Then there was Tanzid Tamim, the 25-year-old who marked his first Test innings in Australia with a century – another remarkable milestone on a day when Bangladesh seemed to be rewriting the record books.

And at the heart of it all was captain Shanto. His 84 on day two was a vital contribution, but his influence goes beyond his runs. Under his leadership, Bangladesh have committed to playing on more seam-friendly home surfaces – a bold decision that goes against the traditional approach in Asia.

Bangladesh have undoubtedly developed an impressive group of pace bowlers, but the decision remains significant for a country whose only four bowlers with more than 100 Test wickets are all spinners. Even more remarkably, two of the biggest beneficiaries of that shift, Nahid Rana and Shoriful Islam, did not play in Darwin. That speaks volumes about the depth of Bangladesh’s attack.

This team has done what Sri Lanka have not been able to do, and what Pakistan have managed only four times in 40 games in Australia: win a Test match there. And Bangladesh have done it in just their third attempt.

Mahmud, Tamim. Shanto, Mominul Haque, Mehidy, Taskin, Ebadot Hossain. Every one of them played their part in scripting Bangladesh’s most famous victory.