Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed will finally get the chance to face Australia on their home soil when he opens the bowling against Travis Head and company in a Test match that has been 23 years in the making.

Taskin was only eight when Bangladesh played their sole Test series in Australia in 2003. Fourteen years ago, during Bangladesh’s Under-19 World Cup campaign in Australia, he dismissed Head on his first visit to the country.

Now, 14 years later, Taskin could share the new ball with Australia’s left-handed batsman when the first Test begins in Darwin on Thursday.

“We are really honoured to be here to be playing the Test series against Australia,” Taskin said. “No doubt Australia is one of the biggest teams in the world and playing in Australia against Australia in Test cricket, it’s a really proud moment for every one of our players.”

Taskin made his international debut against Australia in a T20I in Mirpur in 2014 but has never played against them in an international match in Australia. He has since featured in the 2015 ODI World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup in the country.

The 31-year-old has also grown up admiring Australia’s fast-bowling greats, including Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

“From my childhood, I’ve been watching Australia team players, like great fast bowlers, legendary players,” Taskin said. “Really now I have the opportunity to play against them. So I’m really excited.”

“Australia is my favourite place to bowl. I have been watching all of them, Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, even Boland also doing well. If I have a chance to chat with them, definitely I will do.”

For Bangladesh, however, the series is about more than fulfilling a childhood ambition. Matches against Australia are rare, making the opportunity particularly important for a team seeking to establish itself in Test cricket.

Bangladesh arrive with some confidence after beating Australia 2-1 in an ODI series in Mirpur two months ago. The hosts produced impressive pace bowling on pitches that traditionally favour spin, although Australia’s leading Test attack and Head were absent from that series.

Taskin, Nahid Rana, Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam formed the pace attack during that series, but Rana and Mustafizur are unavailable for the Darwin Test, while Shoriful remains a possibility for the second Test in Mackay.

“That was a really great series for us, especially because normally, traditionally in Mirpur, it used to be a turning and slow wicket, but the last series was pretty sporting conditions,” Taskin said.

“We all played a good series and we won against Australia. That’s giving us really good confidence to play against them. But still, home and away, there is a big difference.”

That difference was evident in Bangladesh’s final warm-up match in Darwin, where they were dismissed for just 54 before losing by an innings to a Cricket Australia XI.

South Australia seamer Campbell Thompson, who had taken only three first-class wickets before the match, claimed 8-25 as Bangladesh’s batting collapsed. Earlier, Teague Wyllie scored 130 against an attack led by Taskin.

“That wasn’t a great feeling after losing against Cricket Australia, that practice game,” Taskin said. “But in cricket that happens. We are also still trying to adjust to the conditions and pitches quickly.”

Australia’s Head played down the significance of the warm-up defeat, saying Bangladesh’s attention would already have been firmly on the Test.

“I’ve played in some pretty poor ones over the years as well, and they’re always a challenge because you’ve got your mind probably elsewhere,” Head said.

“They’d be disappointed in that and what the outcome looks like externally. But I think internally they’d just be worried about Thursday.”

For Taskin, Thursday will offer a chance to turn years of watching Australian cricket from afar into a long-awaited Test experience — and perhaps renew an old rivalry with Head that began when both were teenagers.