Home ›› 30 Aug 2021 ›› Sport
In the past decade, Bangladesh have managed to take one step forward after another in one-day internationals, but their sorry figures in the other two formats, have not changed much.
The Tigers have won 67 ODIs in the last 10 years, more than their
64 losses. But in this period, they have played 91 Twenty20 internationals, winning only 35.
And most of those wins, 18 have come against oppositions who are ranked lower. If Sri Lanka and West Indies are included, 26 of Bangladesh’s 35 wins are found. And as a result of continued poor performance against the better-ranked sides, Bangladesh are ranked 10th in the ICC T20I rankings.
Since their debut in the format in 2006, Bangladesh have played 107 T20Is. Among them, they have registered only 38 wins. That sounds bad but what is worse is their performances in the T20 World Cups.
Since their win against West Indies in the 2007 World Cup, Bangladesh have failed to register a win in the final stage of any World Cup. Not even in 2014, when the global tournament was on their backyard.
That World Cup is remembered sorely by Bangladesh for a loss against Hong Kong in the preliminary round and then yet another disappointing outing in the final stage.
Bangladesh’s failure in T20Is have generally come because of their lack of resources for the action-packed format.
In a format where a high strike rate is essential, no Bangladesh batsman who has played more than 10 innings has a striker rate over 140. Among specialist batsmen, Liton Das sits top with a strike rate of 134.02.
The country’s longest-serving T20I batsman, Tamim Iqbal, has a strike rate of 117.47, the lowest among his peers in international cricket.
In bowling, Bangladesh have had Shakib Al Hasan as the lone warrior for a long time. Mustafizur Rahman joined in in 2015, but an injury-marred career has always seen him stop and start several times.
Bangladesh’s horror T20I record seemed to improve since the end of 2019 as they got their first-ever win over India in this format. Also, a 2-0 series win over Zimbabwe showed promise as more youngsters came into the fray.
But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Tigers had to wait for a year for their next T20I series. And there, it got off to a horrible restart as Bangladesh were thrashed 3-0 by New Zealand.
Since then, Bangladesh managed to scrape out a 2-1 series win against Zimbabwe and then had their greatest success in this format. They not only just beat Australia in a bilateral series but pummeled them properly as the Aussies found no clue whatsoever to lose 4-1.
But there were question marks on that success. Because all the matches were on slow, low surfaces that were difficult to bat in. Batsmen from both sides struggled, and 131 was the highest team total in the series.
Bangladesh have yet another chance to ensure that their good T20I run continues as they will have the opportunity to feed on an
inexperienced New Zealand side next month. Bangladesh batting consultant Ashwell Prince has already said that he doesn’t think the pitch will change much from the Australia series, and if that happens, another low-scoring series awaits.
And winning this series might take Bangladesh up the rankings but will not ensure that they have transformed into a good T20I side. If they can create proper surfaces and then beat New Zealand, it might leave a mark of confidence.
But to truly ensure that the Tigers have moved past being mediocre in the shortest format of the game,
they will require consistency and a good World Cup.
Luckily, they have had the perfect start with the win over Australia. And now, New Zealand await.
