The Bangladesh nation is as mad about cricket as any sub-continent team is. Infact, most of the games held in their country has more spectators at the stand then you can find in Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Such is the passion for the sport in that country. However, the on-field record of the Bangladesh national team does not serve justice to the millions of fans who follow them. The sorry state of Bangladesh national team is really a tragedy.
Bangladesh joins the big players
Bangladesh joined the Test playing fraternity in 2000 after defeating Pakistan in the preceeding ODI World Cup. The big powers of that time, namely England and Australia weren’t convinced of Bangladesh’s test credentials and as such, they were always opposed to their entry. One tends to agree with such an opinion because up until point, Bangladesh did not make the world sit straight and take notice. They had lost all of their ODIs except for three games. One of the win against Kenya & the other against Scotland. To prove that point, Zimbabwe had a much better test record before being allowed to play Tests. Off late, Afghanistan has much more talent than Bangladesh.
Did Bangladesh really strengthen a particular block?
It was always felt that the only reason Bangladesh were given test status was to strengthen the Asian block of India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. Back in the day, every country had 2 votes and as such, the Asian block had 6. England, Australia & New Zealand always sticks together with West Indies ending up supporting the so called white block all the time. Zimbabwe will side with the Asian block and South African kept oscillating. As such Bangladesh by being given test status got 2 votes automatically and thereby tilting the scales in favour of the Asian block or more precisely, India.
It was hard to argue with such an assessment because Bangladesh’s performance before being awarded test status did not inspire much confidence and one tends to agree with such an evaluation. However, the white block were really powerless to stop the Indian juggernaut and they had to acquiesce.
Things went into downward spiral
It was felt that Bangladesh with its cricket crazy population will be able to produce enough talent and it was only a matter of time before it starts to compete with the bigger nations. Bangladesh had a good start to their test career. They scored 400 against India but ended up losing the test. From then on, things did not improve for the team. Infact, it was worse and it kept on worsening. They could not win any. What made matters worse was the fact they kept losing to everyone. It is one thing to lose because inexperienced teams losing is par for course but Bangladesh were incapable of even drawing games. They even struggled to post decent innings total. This despite playing some of those games in their own country.
All of these made it look silly to have given them test status. There was a huge cry to strip Bangladesh of their test status for want of better competition or have a second tier in which Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and any other nation can compete amongst themselves. At the sametime, losing too many ODIs did not help their cause either. Certainly, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the man who was instrumental in awarding Bangladesh their test status looked like a fool. This continued much into the 2010s as well. They kept on losing more than 3 times the number of games they won or drawn. This is a damning statistic.
It has been 20 years since Bangladesh were promoted to the higher league and not even a single batsman average in excess of 45 or a single bowler average less than 30. Things were really dicey. If Bangladesh were stripped of their test status, no one would have had any complaint.
A slight uptick in Bangladesh’s performance
Towards the latter half of 2010s, Bangladesh’s fortune started to change. Starting with 2015, they began to win regularly. Infact, they won 3 consecutive ODI series against Pakistan, India & South Africa. They were all played in Bangladesh but nonetheless, this was a welcome change. Around the same period, their test credentials began to improve. They won one test apiece against England & Australia. The icing on the cake was the series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Further on, they had an incredible 2019 World Cup campaign.
Finally, it felt that Bangladesh have arrived. They have won some important tests against top teams and have hard a decent World Cup. However, Bangladesh cricket regressed again with the latest test series loss against a depleted West Indies side. They even failed to defend a score close to 400 and failed to chase a score just over 200.
Conclusion
World cricket is only 12 teams strong. It cannot afford for some teams to be just passengers. It is understandable if a country like Zimbabwe or Ireland is unable to raise because they do not have that much talent in their country. However, a country like Bangladesh which has a bigger fan following when compared to Sri Lanka must realise their standing in world cricket and must start to compete against all the top teams. They will do well to think of drawing most of the tests and think about victory only if there is a chance. Atleast this will give their supporters something to cheer about.
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