Stumps & Bumps: Bangladesh, Daniel Bryan and 'What's Best for Business'

The fallout of Bangladesh’s triumph over Australia in the First Test continues and their victory against Australia was more than just an underdog story but a tale of redemption from the last time the team was in the Top End.

Bangladesh’s first Test visit to Australia in 2003 was not a memorable one, where they lost the First Test in Darwin by and innings and 132 runs, followed by another heavy defeat in the second Test in Cairns by an innings and 98 runs.

But their famous win against the Aussies in Darwin was more than just erasing old scars from previous tours, but an announcement that they deserve to be playing Test cricket with the big nations, and SEN Cricket’s Bharat Sundaresan likened their rise to that of former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan who, in his first WrestleMania appearance - in 2012 - lost to Sheamus in 18 seconds.

“Let's understand the Daniel Bryan story first, right? Yeah, he lost to Seamus but the fans wanted Daniel Bryan. They wanted to see him in main events. They wanted him to be treated like a main event star. But the WWE didn’t. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon basically kept saying ‘It's not best for business. We make decisions which are best for business’ and that's pretty much what the people who are running Australian Cricket have said. Why don't we want Bangladesh here? Because it's not best for business.”

“Best for business is to play against India, England as much as possible and then we can slot in some of the others here and there. Australia has always been about what is best for their own business and that's the reason they've told Bangladesh indirectly that you're not good enough to come and play on our shows, which is exactly what was happening with Daniel Bryan.”

It was two years later at WrestleMania where Bryan got another shot at a World Championship, going up against established WWE stars Batista and Randy Orton in a triple threat match where he cemented himself as a main event talent by winning the title and was regarded as the face of the company until his departure in 2021.

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