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It is a day Bangladesh cricket and its passionate fans will not forget in a hurry.

On what had been a miserable tour of New Zealand, the team had lost all seven of its matches. This included one tour match against a New Zealand XI, all three One-Day Internationals and then the three Twenty20 Internationals as well, all by quite big margins.

The Tests were supposed to go in a similar direction and on a windy first day at Wellington, Bangladesh seemed down and out for the count, slipping to 60/2 and then 145/3.

But on a much sunnier second day at the Basin Reserve, it was time for two of Bangladesh’s veterans to shine.

When Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim came together, the score read 160/4. When Rahim finally edged to second slip, the score was 519/5. The two had put together a staggering 359 runs, the highest-ever partnership for Bangladesh in Test cricket.

In particular, it was Hasan who stole the show. The immensely talented all-rounder played his greatest knock of all time, pulling and driving with abandon and scoring at a strike rate of 78.62 to finally finish with 217, Bangladesh’s highest individual score.

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Captain Rahim at the other end played a more tempered hand for his 159, but there was no doubting the grit and resilience he brought to the show. New Zealand did offer them chances but Hasan and Rahim latched on and took the Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners in a day which became brighter and brighter for Bangladesh.

New Zealand did break through late in the day with Bangladesh ending at 542/7 but it was a happy Rahim in the dressing room. Finally his much-criticised team had shown up and displayed that they could perform, in the foreign conditions of a away tour.