Yahoo Sports ranks historic Test upsets, placing Bangladesh’s Darwin victory alongside Kolkata 2001
A new compilation by Yahoo Sports highlights matches where underdogs defeated dominant sides, with Bangladesh’s nine-wicket win over Australia in 2026 joining elite company.
Yahoo Sports has published a comprehensive list detailing the greatest upsets in Test cricket history, focusing on instances where underdogs successfully challenged dominant teams. The publication highlights Bangladesh’s nine-wicket victory over Australia in Darwin in 2026 as the most recent addition to this elite category of results.
The article notes that Bangladesh, playing their first Test in Australia in 23 years, approached the match as rank outsiders before securing a result that has been described as one of the most embarrassing defeats in Australia’s Test history. This win ends a long-standing drought for the visitors, who have not played a five-day series in the country since a 2-0 defeat in 2003.
Other key upsets featured in the compilation include India’s historic win against Australia in Kolkata in 2001, where they defeated the hosts after following on. The piece also references New Zealand’s whitewash in India and the Gabba heist in 2021, illustrating a broader trend where form, ranking, and logic were overturned in high-stakes international fixtures.
The report details the structural shift evident in the Darwin match, where Bangladesh maintained control from the outset. Driven by Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s five wickets in the second innings and Hasan Mahmud’s nine wickets, Bangladesh scored 426 runs while bowling out the top-ranked Australian side for 198 and 284.
Historical context within the article underscores the rarity of such results, citing India’s 2001 victory as only the third instance in Test history of a team winning after following on. The narrative highlights individual heroics, such as the 376-run stand between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid and Shamar Joseph’s spell in 2021, as pivotal moments that turned near-certain defeats into legendary outcomes.
The second Test of the current series is scheduled to begin on 22 August 2026, continuing the contest between the two nations. The publication suggests that Bangladesh’s triumph serves as a reminder of the format’s enduring capacity to surprise, rewriting history books for a team that had not defeated Australia in Test cricket since Mirpur in 2017.
