Mehidy Hasan Miraz set double milestones while Taijul Islam reached one, during the first Test against the West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, which began on Friday.
Bangladesh won the toss in Antigua and elected to field first. Bangladesh are playing with three pacers - Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, and Shoriful Islam and two spinners, Mehidy and Taijul Islam.
Fast bowler Nahid Rana, who can hit 150 kph, has been left out.
Apart from Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim also missed out as he continued to recover from his fractured finger. Both sustained their injuries during the ODI series against Afghanistan.
Mehidy has become the 14th player to lead Bangladesh in Tests when he has been leading the side in the absence of regular captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was ruled out of the two-match series due to a groin injury.
The 27-year-old all-rounder Mehidy also became the 11th player to play 50 Tests for the country. Left-arm spinner Taijul is also playing his 50th Test.
Mehidy, the former captain of the Under-19 Bangladesh team, already got the taste of ODI captaincy when he led his side against Afghanistan earlier in November in Sharjah, which was also his 100th 50-over game for Bangladesh.
Before Mehidy and Taijul, seven cricketers from Bangladesh played at least 50 Tests.
It took Mehidy 2955 days (8 years, 1 month, 3 days) to reach his 50th Test after making his debut against England in Chattogram back in 2016.
The all-rounder becomes the third fastest player in terms of time to play the 50th Test for Bangladesh.
Mehidy vowed to make his double-milestone Test memorable. 鈥楢lhamdulillah, it feels really good,鈥� he said ahead of the first Test.
鈥楢s I鈥檒l play the 50th Test for my country, it鈥檚 a great achievement for me. I think it鈥檚 a great achievement to play 50 Tests for your country. I鈥檒l try to make this a memorable one鈥�, Mehidy added.
Habibul Bashar is the fastest in terms of days needed to reach the 50th Test for Bangladesh.
The former captain played his 50th and last Test of his career in 2007, against South Africa in Mirpur.
Bashar made his debut in the inaugural Test for Bangladesh in Dhaka. He played 50 Tests in 2660 days (7 years, 3 months, 12 days).
Taijul, who made his debut in the Caribbean in 2014, in St. Vincent, needed 3731 days (10 years, 2 months, 17 days) to hit the half century of Tests. Only Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, and Mushfiqur Rahim needed more time than him.
This is the second time that two Bangladeshi players are playing their 50th Test in the same match. Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal both reached their milestones in 2017 against Australia at Mirpur.
Shakib made his debut in 2007, while Tamim鈥檚 came a year later.
