Ebadot Hossain picked up three wickets during the day-night Test at Eden Gardens in November 2019. But it was his grand salute celebration that remained the talking point after he dismissed Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli.

That has turned out to be his trademark method of honouring the Bangladesh Air Force after every wicket since his debut in Hamilton in 2019. Ebadot joined the air force in 2012, after impressing as a volleyball player in his hometown Sylhet, to earn a living since he never dreamt of making it big as a cricketer.

Four years later, a pacer hunt contest in Faridpur changed his life. One of the top three to impress the scouts, this Brett Lee fan was part of a camp in Dhaka under Bangladesh’s then bowling consultant Aaqib Javed.

Ebadot worked closely with Simon Helmot, director of the High Performance Centre since 2017, and fast bowling consultant Champaka Ramanayake. He also picked up tricks of the trade from former Bangladesh national coach and West Indies legend Courtney Walsh.

“You cannot say Ebadot has come through the system, age-group cricket, et al. He actually came out of nowhere.

A raw natural talent with a smooth action who was first noticed during the pacer hunt contest,” former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar, who was part of the national selection committee when the fast bowler made his debut, told The Telegraph on Wednesday.

“We call him a wild card entry in Bangladesh’s cricket system. We had been looking for someone with raw pace and he fitted the bill. He made no impact initially but we stuck to him since he could unsettle the batsmen with sheer pace. We trusted his talent and knew he could be useful because of his height. It was only later that he learnt the art of seam and swing bowling,” Bashar said.

Ebadot has prospered under the tutelage of current Bangladesh head coach Ottis Gibson, who is credited with making him believe in his potential. It was the tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year when he started doing justice to his talent though he didn’t achieve much success in the Harare Test.

Before that match, Ebadot had picked just seven wickets in seven Tests at an average of 90.71. Since Harare, Ebadot played four Tests, getting 11 wickets at an average of 47.50.

Under Bashar’s leadership, Bangladesh had won against India and South Africa in the 2007 World Cup before defeating Australia in 2005. But he thinks this Test triumph will remain at the “top of the list” since it came against the world champions in a “format which needs consistency and discipline”.