[rafiq]

Folks, amid the anticipation of an exciting last day of play, we may have forgotten that this is supposed to be the last day of Test cricket at the beloved Bangabandhu National Stadium. With the stadium to be turned over to football for the upcoming season, this is the last cricket Test to be played here unless there is a policy change in the future.

The expansive bowl seats only 35,000 when most people swear there are tens of thousands more when there is a full house. Most of us remember this place simply as "Dhaka Stadium". Since it was renamed to BNS, Bangladesh have played all of its Dhaka Tests here. But test cricket was of course first played here by Pakistan. The current Test against Zimbabwe is the 17th Test to be played here. Here is the summary of results of the previous 16:


P W1 W2 T D %R Ave Ave1 Ave2 Ave3 Ave4 R/6b

overall 16 2 8 0 6 62% 25.84 22.3 35.8 17.6 35.5 2.47

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Win Res Margin Toss Bat FO Match

- draw - - - n 1st Test Pak v Ind 1954/55 [394]
- draw - - - n 3rd Test Pak v NZ 1955/56 [415]
Pak won 41 runs lost 1st n 2nd Test Pak v WI 1958/59 [471]
Aus won 8 wickets won 2nd n 1st Test Pak v Aus 1959/60 [479]
- draw - - - n 2nd Test Pak v Eng 1961/62 [521]
- draw - - - n 2nd Test Pak v Eng 1968/69 [649]
- draw - - - n 3rd Test Pak v NZ 1969/70 [665]
Pak won inn & 175r lost 2nd n Final Pak v SL 1998/99 [1450]
Ind won 9 wickets lost 2nd n Only Test BD v Ind 2000/01 [1512]
- draw - - - n 1st Test BD v Zim 2001/02 [1566]
Pak won inn & 178r won 2nd n 1st Test BD v Pak 2001/02 [1584]
WI won inn & 310r won 2nd n 1st Test BD v WI 2002/03 [1630]
SA won inn & 18r won 1st y 2nd Test BD v SA 2003 [1642]
Eng won 7 wickets lost 2nd n 1st Test BD v Eng 2003/04 [1665]
NZ won inn & 99r lost 2nd n 1st Test BD v NZ 2004/05 [1715]
Ind won inn & 140r won 2nd n 1st Test BD v Ind 2004/05 [1725]

We hope one day this decision is reversed and Test cricket returns to this glorious venue.