Bangladesh fast bowler Hasan Mahmud produced a career-best performance in Sylhet on Friday, taking six wickets for 90 runs as West Indies were bowled out for 356 in the first innings of the second Test, and in doing so matched a record that had stood alone for more than a century of Test cricket.
The 26-year-old's fifth five-wicket haul in Tests was his first on home soil, and it made him only the second bowler in the 149-year history of the format, after Australia's Nathan Lyon, to take each of his first five Test five-wicket hauls in a different country.
Mahmud's sequence began in Rawalpindi in 2024, where he claimed five for 43 against Pakistan, and continued with five for 83 against India in Chennai later that year. In 2026 he added six for 55 against Australia in Darwin and five for 55 against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, before Friday's six for 90 against West Indies at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium completed the set.
Lyon, the only other bowler to have managed the feat, spread his first five five-wicket hauls across Sri Lanka, the West Indies, India, England and South Africa between 2011 and 2014. Mahmud's five have come in Pakistan, India, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and now Bangladesh, a different set of five nations from Lyon's original list.
West Indies had resumed the second day on 235 for four and added 87 runs in the first session, but lost four wickets in that period, three of them to Mahmud. He completed his five-wicket haul through a sharp piece of work from wicketkeeper Litton Das, and then bowled Shamar Joseph with the first ball of the second session to finish the innings.
Mahmud finished with figures of six for 90 from 24 overs, including one maiden, at an economy rate of 3.80. It was his second six-wicket return in Test cricket and his fifth five-wicket haul in only 19 matches, taking him past Shahadat Hossain, who managed four in 38 Tests, as the most prolific fast bowler in Bangladesh's Test history.
He also became the first Bangladesh fast bowler to take a Test wicket through a stumping, another small piece of history on a day full of them. Taskin Ahmed took two for 90 and Mehidy Hasan Miraz two for 82 in support, while Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan went wicketless.
West Indies' total was built around a century from Aamir Jangoo, who made 133 with 13 fours and two sixes. Joshua Wickham contributed 61 and Justin Greaves 51, while lower-order runs from Jomel Warrican, who made 27 not out, and Jayden Seales helped push the visitors past 350 after they had looked in danger of falling short.
Bangladesh's reply began shakily, and the hosts ended the second day on 88 for three, still 268 runs behind West Indies' first-innings total. Mushfiqur Rahim and Tawhid Hridoy were the men at the crease at stumps, and Mahmud said afterwards that Bangladesh could still catch the West Indies total if the pair kept batting into the third day.
The performance continued a remarkable rise for a bowler who only two years ago was winning his first Test five-wicket haul in Rawalpindi. He also played a key role in Bangladesh's historic Test win over Australia in Darwin earlier in August, and his five five-wicket hauls have now come in five different countries in the space of just over two years.
For now, the immediate task is the match itself. Bangladesh trail by 268 runs with seven wickets in hand, and the first session of the third day will decide whether they can get close to West Indies' total or whether the visitors' bowlers take control of a Test that Mahmud's record-breaking spell has kept firmly in the balance.
