DHAKA, March 23, 2022 (BSS) — From now on, no one will dare to deride a Bangladesh team tigers at home, rabbits overseas. They now stripped off that tag with a colossal series victory in South Africa, where almost all of the teams of the world found them in wanting.

Specially for a sub-continent team, conquering South Africa is always a dream. There might be argument, South Africa have been in transitional period following the retirement of their big stars but this South African team whitewashed a powerful team like India at home recently.

In fact regardless of their strength, South Africa have always been a tough nut to break at home.

Before this series, Bangladesh were winless in South Africa, losing 19 matches across three formats. But still Bangladesh came here this time high on confidence. From head coach Russell Domingo to captain Tamim Iqbal, team director Khaled Mahmudu Sujon to Yasir Ali, the most junior member of the team, everyone were desperate to change their record in South Africa.

“We are at such a stage in ODI cricket that we should not say anything other than winning. Not that I would say we want to play good cricket, as we have said 10 years ago today,” skipper Tamim said ahead of leaving the country.

“Of course we will go with the mindset of victory. It is also true that it is difficult. Our record there is not so good. The record is a thing that can be changed at any moment.”

Russell Domingo who were up against his country for the first time as Bangladesh coach said they want to do something what no Bangladesh team has done before.

“They (South Africa) are playing in their own conditions where they are a tough side to beat. They will start as favourites but that suits us coming as underdogs. It gives us a great opportunity to do something special. We want to do something that no Bangladesh team has done here before,” Domingo said.

Everyone is oozing with confidence to do something special and they proved in the first match that how desperate they were.

Shakib Al Hasan led the 38-run victory in the first match with his brilliant 64 ball-77 and it gave Bangladesh another hope to dream big. Their dream got a setback when South Africa beat them by seven wickets in the second match but Bangladesh never gave up the hopes.

Instead they became more united and more desperate. Shakib Al Hasan knew almost all of his family members including his two children got admitted into hospital with various health complications. But he refused to return to country and stayed back. His dedication was the further testament of how desperate and determined the whole team was to win the series.

And Taskin Ahmed translated Bangladesh’s determination, claiming a 5-35 to help the side win the third ODI by 9 wickets and clinch the series. It completed Bangladesh’s long search for a series victory against a top cricketing nation at overseas soil.

Bangladesh have been invincible like South Africa at home since 2015 but a series victory at overseas looked always out of touch.

Even though they won series in West Indies and Zimbabwe, it exactly couldn’t hog the limelight given the current scenario of those two cricketing nations. They also won a tri-nation series in Ireland ahead of 2019 World Cup, involving Ireland and West Indies.

But knowing that conquering South Africa will quell the other cricketing nation’s doubt on their ability to win a big series overseas, the Tigers were extremely determined ahead of the series.

“When we are touring, we can win games and series. We take of a lot of pride in ODI cricket. This is one format where we are very comfortable. The missing part was winning overseas, and we somehow did that this series,” Tamim Iqbal said after the historical series victory.

The Bangladesh now ticked the box to win a series in overseas, which also proved that they are now no longer a paper Tiger on foreign soil.