"Mashrafee Bhai gave me this jersey. I can't say anything more," a weeping teenager sporting a Bangladesh ODI shirt somehow blurted out before hugging yet another stranger on the Dhaka University campus, the focal point of celebrations after every Bangladeshi sporting achievement in recent times, and there have some. For the record, it was the Tigers' fifth win in their last nine one-day internationals and there has been a maiden Test series victory in between.

Perhaps it was also poetic justice that the team on the receiving end was Australia.

"This is our reply to all the craps Richie Benaud, Shane Warne and Kim Hughes had been saying about us. We are the new world champions," screamed a motor-cycle riding youth as he sped towards an impromptu procession arranged by fellow unknown bikers.

A group of youngsters, stripped to the waist, had assembled on the road just 10 yards from the Tejgaon police station armed with buckets and mugs with coloured water as ammo. Every passing vehicle even at this late hour came under attack. "Please don't mind brother, we don't do this everyday," said one of the 'jolly miscreants' brandishing the full set of his shiny teeth. Even the policemen were prepared to look the other way for a change.

And what about the newspaper office that went loco after the Aussie conquest? Two sacrificial goats were brought in smack inside the news room of The Daily Star as sleepless journalists prepared for a feast on them on the night that would not end.

MILESTONES

*First-ever ODI win against Australia.

*Mohammad Ashraful becomes second Bangladeshi to score a ODI hundred after Mebrab Hossain (against Zimbabwe at Dhaka, 1999)

*Tapash Baisya joins Khaled Mahmud and Mohammad Rafique to become the third Bangladeshi to take fifty one-day wickets.

*Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Ashraful set a new 4th wicket partnership record against any country. Their 130-run stand eclipsed the 115 between Sanwar Hossain and Bashar against Zimbabwe in 2001.

*It is Bangladesh's fifth win in their last 9 ODIs.

BANGLADESH'S 10 ODI WINS Date Result Venue 17.5.98 Beat Kenya at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium India 24.5.99 Beat Scotland at Raeburn Park Scotland (WC) 31.5.99 Beat Pakistan at Northamptonshire England (WC) 10.3.04 Beat Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club Zimbabwe 16.7.04 Beat Hong Kong at Sinhalese Sports Club Sri Lanka 26.1.04 Beat India at Bangabandhu National Stadium Dhaka 26.1.05 Beat Zimbabwe at Chittagong MA Aziz Stadium Chittagong 29.1.05 Beat Zimbabwe at Bangabandhu National Stadium Dhaka 31.1.05 Beat Zimbabwe at Bangabandhu National Stadium Dhaka 18.6.05 Beat Australia at Sophia Gardens Cardiff