It was a little more than three and a half years ago when Bangladesh, a team composed primarily of youngsters, surprised an Indian team full of legends in the World Cup by five wickets. Despite being a fairly dominant win and the fact that it came on the heels of
Bangladesh
firmly establishing themselves a step above the associates and a
Zimbabwe
team on a downward spiral, many were inclined to see this victory as a fluke and nothing more. Two weeks later when
Bangladesh
took on the mighty South Africans and defeated them comprehensively by 67 runs, the surprise wasn't any less but the reasoning had changed. Fans became surprised as to why it took this long for Bangladesh to take what was surely their first step joining the cricketing elite as opposed to being the once a year giant killer. Throw in an entertaining T20 World Cup win versus West Indies a few months later and there was little doubt that teams should no longer take
Bangladesh
lightly.
The world learns of BanglaWash - the team celebrates a Kiwi whitewash.
So naturally when the next fifteen months followed with no more than one major victory to boast (vs. NZ at home), optimism was soon rivaled by frustration. 2009 again brought back the promise with a bonus point defeat of Sri Lanka to secure a tri-series final following an unexpected loss to Zimbabwe and a Final match that will surely resonate as 'one that got away' among fans for years to come. The year would culminate with a series whitewash of a West Indies squad depleted of its primary stars due to conflict with the board and two consecutive 4-1 series wins home and away versus
Zimbabwe
. Though many will mark the West Indies series with an asterisk (*), time is starting to show that the team
Bangladesh
faced was not too far removed from what is becoming their standard XI. The Zimbabwe wins brought about some great individual accomplishments that again brought hope that Bangladesh was ready with the proper skill set to take on a 2010 loaded with matches against the cream of the crop.
Tri Series vs. IND & SL (The Dew Series)
To start the year off,
India
and
Sri Lanka
brought Kohli and Dilshan along and BCB rewarded them with batting pitches. The dew factor took a life of its own and pretty much dictated the results at the toss. The first match saw Mohammad Ashraful celebrate his annual 'Eid' innings (75) at the beginning of the year and Naeem Islam lay down some late fireworks (22 of 9) to take Bangladesh to a respectable 260-7. Dilshan and Sangakarra made the target seem non-threatening despite losing Tharanga in the 4th over to secure an easy victory by 7 wickets with 5+ overs to spare. What should have been a lesson learned after witnessing the Bangladeshi spinners struggling to grip the ball in the evening dew, turned out to the first crack in Shakib's invulnerability armor as he chose to bat first in the next match against India. Following Mashrafe's injury in the
Caribbean, it had appeared that the Iceman could do no wrong after winning us match after match with both bat and ball. Shakib's decision could've still proved worthwhile as
Bangladesh
secured their largest ODI total versus a top tier team (296/6) behind half centuries from Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes and Mahmadullah. The bowlers would reduce
India
to 51/3 by removing the dangerous Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj early on only to watch Kohli and Dhoni systematically take apart the
Bangladesh
bowling. The rest of the script became all too familiar with
Bangladesh
losing the tosses and being put into bat first. Scores of 249 and 247/6 were followed with easy chases and led to a 9 wicket and 6 wicket losses respectively.
India Test series (The 20 Wickets Series)
It had been over half a year since
Bangladesh
won its historic test series in the Caribbean and now it was time to face the real test versus
India
. It was Sehwag who struck the first blow as stand in captain claiming
Bangladesh
to be an 'ordinary' team incapable of taking 20 wickets. The comments created uproar among fans and
Bangladesh
would make Sehwag think twice about his comments by the time the
India
's first innings was complete.
India
was held to 243 but it could have been even less had Tendulkar not been given a couple lives via dropped catches en route to his 44
th test century. Shahadat and Shakib shared the honors by grabbing 5 wickets apiece. However,
Bangladesh
couldn't capitalize and fell 1 short of the total in the first innings. That too came from some valiant batting in the late middle order by Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmadullah. Sehwag would save his blushes behind Gambhir's 5
th century in 5 matches to declare at 413/8 setting
Bangladesh
a target of 415 to win.
Bangladesh
would fall 113 runs short highlighted with a brilliant century by Mushfiq. The second Test seemed like the days of old as
Bangladesh
barely avoided an innings defeat by setting
India
a target of 2 runs in the 4
th innings. Mahmadullah continued to show grit with an unbeaten 96 in the first innings but it was Tamim who stole the individual accolades with a masterful 151 to become the only Bangladeshi batsman to cross the 150 mark in an innings in both Tests & ODIs.
New Zealand
Series (Vettori vs. Shakib)
Tamim Iqbal races to a thalf century against New Zealand
In their last series encounter
Bangladesh
had taken the 1
st ODI from
New Zealand
at home and gave them a run for their money in the remaining two as well as the Test series. Vettori was the man with bat, ball and the captain's hat just like Shakib was becoming for
Bangladesh
. With all the comparisons that take place in cricket, this is possibly the most reasonable one as both players play similar roles in the same era. The series was thrown together to fit in between other engagements for both teams and practice matches were sacrificed in order to accommodate.
The series started off in disarray with a dismal performance on the only T20 match.
Bangladesh
posted a mere 78 only to watch Brendon McCullum decimate it practically single handedly in a span of 8 overs. It should have been a concern as this was the only T20I Bangladesh had played since
West Indies (which too was an embarrassment) and the final one before the World Cup later in the year but one that seemed to be squarely stashed away by management as nothing more than a bad day at the office.
The 1st ODI saw the Kiwis amass 336 with only Shafiul bowling with any heart to bag 4 wickets. Shakib did get the prize wicket of Vettori who scored 32 only to have the favor returned during his bat. Shakib's contribution with the bat would be only 8.
Bangladesh
folded quickly after the opening pair generated some buzz with 68 runs on the board within the first 10 overs. The wickets all fell in a span of 33.1 overs for only 122 additional runs. The 2nd ODI saw Mushfiq (86) and Naeem (43) rescue
Bangladesh
from an embarrassing total after being at 5/25 & 6/46. The 183/8 however, did not pose any threat as
New Zealand
chased it down with 5 wickets and 22+ overs to spare. The 3rd ODI was more of the same with Imrul Kayes (101) securing his maiden century out of a 241 total to see New Zealand cross the finish mark with 3 wickets and 5 overs to spare. Shakib created a little bit of excitement and hope near end finishing with a career best of 4/33 while his counterpart Vettori had taken 3/42.
The tour culminated in a solitary Test that saw Guptil and McCullum rescue New Zealand from 158/5 to 553/7d as both scored in the 180s including a shared 339 run partnership. Rubel Hossain did snag a 5 wicket haul albeit at the expense of 166 runs. Shakib managed the solitary wicket of his counterpart. In response,
Bangladesh
showed fight with Shakib and Mahmadullah pulling a 145 run partnership rescue act of their own from 196/6. Shakib fell to a controversial catch behind the wicket but forgot to use the referral and thus lost out to a maiden test ton at 87. Mahmadullah didn't take the chance of running out of partners like he did against
India
and scored his century (115) to lead a reply of 408 for
Bangladesh
. Vettori saw fit to declare with a 403 run lead with Shakib and Mahmadullah again finding each other as partners at 157/6. This time around the partnership would be for 68 runs but enough for Shakib to continue on and get the maiden test century in the midst of a 121 run defeat. Although Shakib had the more memorable performances, it was Vettori who lifted all the trophies and
Bangladesh
had began the year at 11-0 in international engagements. The tour was so one-sided that no one could have foreseen at that time what was awaiting the Black Caps in their return trip later in the year. For now the Tigers were heading back home to take on a resurgent English team with questions surrounding the top order collapses, poor fielding, toothless bowling and more importantly the leadership approaches of the captain and the coach.
England
in
Bangladesh
(The Lions vs. Tigers)
Mushfiqur Rahim top-scored with a 76
With English captain Andrew Strauss opting to rest and key bowlers Anderson and Onions out of the line up with injuries,
Bangladesh
had a wonderful opportunity to secure their first victory against
England
.
England
remained the lone elite team to never have fallen to the Tigers in the limited format. Tamim came out blazing in the first ODI with a very balanced century (125 in 120 balls) by being aggressive up front and rooting down as the batsmen around him failed to stay put.
England
made light work of the 225 total and took an easy 1-0 lead with a 6 wicket victory. The 2
nd ODI was a more balanced batting effort of 260/6 with almost all the top order getting starts but only Imrul and Mushfiq continuing on to score the half centuries. It took a magical innings from Eoin Morgan and a couple of questionable umpiring calls for
England
to win this one by 2 wickets. Shakib looked deadly with 3/32 but ran out of overs to see his team through. A 45 run defeat followed in the 3
rd ODI as
Bangladesh
fell to 239/9 chasing 284/5. Much like the previous ODI, it was another case of getting starts but not making the innings count. Another deficiency that was become abundantly clear at this point was
Bangladesh
's lack of understanding and inability to utilize the batting powerplay overs.
The first of the Test matches saw ENG declare at 599/6 with Cook (173) and Collingwood (145) leading the way and Kevin Pieterson barely missing out (99).
Bangladesh
fell 103 short of the follow on mark despite half centuries from the usual performers Tamim (86), Mushfiq (79) and Mahmadullah (51), the last of whom was tried higher up the order. Cook chose to get more batting under their belt and declared only with a solid 512 run lead, probably taking into account the scare
Bangladesh
had provided
Sri Lanka
the previous year. Shakib had regained his touch and taken 4/62 of the 7 wickets in the second innings and ensured that none of the batsmen had any big innings this time around. There was never a hint of surprise though as Bangladesh fell 181 runs short while Junaid got to add his name to the century list (106) and Mushfiq fell short (95). The second Test started positively with
Bangladesh
scoring 419 behind half centuries of Tamim (85), Mahmadullah (59), Naeem (59) and Shafiul (53). Three others scored above 30, notably Shakib himself with 49.
England
did well to secure a first innings lead behind Ian Bell (138). Shakib (4/114) would limit that lead to 77 runs.
Bangladesh
failed to click in the second innings and set
England
a target of 209 behind another near miss by Shakib (96). Cook (109*) and Pieterson (74*) made little work of it. It should be noted that that
Bangladesh
had been in the match most of the game and this was seen as a positive by many fans as clear signs of progress in the Test arena.
T20 World Cup (4th World Cup in 3 Years)
In order to avoid the clash in the same year vs. the 50 over World Cup, ICC decided to put back to back T20 world cups and leave
Pakistan
defending their title for barely a year. With no noteworthy T20I or IPL experience, Bangladesh was placed in the group with defending champions Pakistan and Australia who had till now underachieved in this format and were determined to add this one piece of untouched hardware to there shelf.
Bangladesh
had a poor start as
Pakistan
lost its first wicket in the 16th over at 142. Bangladesh with renewed life restricted Pakistan to 172 and found themselves needing 50 runs in the last 5 overs with 8 wickets remaining thanks to some nifty hitting by Ashraful (65 of 49) and Shakib (47 of 31). Once Shakib fell, all they could muster was 29 runs at the expense of 5 wickets.
Following
Australia
's thrashing of
Pakistan
;
Bangladesh
still had hope of a 2nd round entry if they could manage the improbable defeat of the Aussies. Improbable turned to Very Likely as
Bangladesh
had
Australia
reeling at 6/65. Hussey would do his own rescue act to see
Australia
to 141 but it still seemed like it was
Bangladesh
's match to lose. However, not to be outdone by the Aussie top order, the Tigers staged their own collapse and 3.5 overs into their inning,
Bangladesh
was down to 4/15. The remaining 6 wickets put on a little more than an additional 100 and
Bangladesh
crashed out of two consecutive World Cups in the 1st round. Last time around, the outrage had brought about the demise of Ashraful's captaincy. This time around with Mashrafe back in the squad, it was Shakib who had to face the heat.
Asia Cup 2010 (The tournament for the sake of having a tournament)
India
,
Sri Lanka
,
Pakistan
and
Bangladesh
struggled to find room in their schedules for this tournament and at the end it was
Afghanistan
and other Asian countries that paid the price as the tournament was shortened to a four team event. It may as well have been a tri series as
Bangladesh
brought practically nothing to the tournament. After feebly surrendering to
India
(by 6 wickets defending 167) and
Sri Lanka
(by 126 runs chasing 312),
Bangladesh
chose to save their biggest embarrassment till the end.
Pakistan
set
Bangladesh
a target of 386 only to watch Junaid and Imrul crawl to 193/1 after an early departure from Tamim. Junaid would still fall short (97) of his century but
Bangladesh
's poor attitude, early surrender and subsequent defense of the strategy angered fans and critics alike. Some might even say it was the curse of dropping Ashraful who until now seemed to have a spot cemented in the XI regardless of what his outputs were.
Bangladesh
were 21-0 for the year and questions were being asked about their coach and their only progress seemingly visible in Test style defensive batting.
Return to
England
(Honours at Lords)
Last time
Bangladesh
was here they lost to
Ireland
in the WC T20. The tour before that? Well that was the one with the win over
Australia
. What would this tour bring? Could
Bangladesh
get a win? Questions were being asked if it would take the matches against the associates
Ireland
,
Netherlands
and
Scotland
to secure the first win of the year. Even that seemed like a question mark.
Tamim Iqbal's blistering 103 puts him on the Lord's Honor Board
The Test series started with total domination by the English, now led by their usual captain Andrew Strauss. Shahadat's 2
nd Five-for (5/98) couldn't prevent
England
accumulating 505 behind Trott's double century and for the first time in over a year and a half
Bangladesh
would suffer a follow on. Tamim (55) and Junaid's (58) half centuries would help
Bangladesh
get to 282 but it was their second innings performance that would give
Bangladesh
respectability in this test. Juanid scored 74 and Imrul chipped in with 75 but Tamim was the man with 103 as he followed Shahadat into the Lord's honour board. A total of 382 in the 2
nd innings took the match into the 5
th day as
England
won by 8 wickets. Once the follow on came, the innings defeat was soon to follow and it did in the next Test.
Bangladesh
would wrap up their final Test match of the year by failing to surpass
England
's total of 419 in two tries. Shakib would add to this 5 wicket hauls (5/121) and Tamim would add a century (108) but
Bangladesh
would still come up 80 short for the innings defeat. Tamim's performances, however, would secure the coveted Wisden test cricketer of the year award previously won by Shakib in 2009.
The ODI series would see the return of captain Mortaza. The losing continued as
Bangladesh
lost the first ODI by 6 wickets trying to defend 250 and were on the verge of 25 consecutive international defeats. Junaid (51) and Raqibul (76) had noteworthy performances but the fight had seemed to be taken out of the tigers after a long cricket filled calendar. The 2nd ODI saw the return of Ashraful and Kayes provided the obligatory innings (76) to lead the team to 236. With 27 runs required and 3 wickets in hand, another defeat was looming when the captain struck twice and led Bangladesh to a spirited but surprising 5 run win. It was the first against
England
in any format and the fan base had been rejuvenated.
England
would not let their guard down the next game and would hand a 144 run thrashing behind the 2nd wicket 250 run partnership of Strauss and Trott. A 16 ball 45 burst by Bopara put
England
at 347 and
Bangladesh
never looked in the game during their 203.
The Associates Await (Now the bulls-eye is on our back)
Ireland
,
Scotland
and
Netherlands
were all eagerly awaiting their shot at
Bangladesh
as the Test nation they see as a measuring stick.
Ireland
was to get two shots while it was one apiece for the other two. The unexpected win against
England
had somewhat lifted the doom and gloom that was starting to surround the team loss after loss. The final ODI thrashing to
England
didn't help but at least
Bangladesh
wasn't going into face these three on the end of a 26-0 run.
Junaid kicked things off, scoring a century (100) in the first ODI versus
Ireland
in a below expectation total of 234. Shakib chipped in with 50 as the only other contributor.
Ireland
struck first blood and chased it down with ease with 7 wickets and 5 overs to spare. Shafiul (4/59) would have none of that in the 2nd ODI and helped restrict
Ireland
to 189/9 in a rain affected 46 over match.
Bangladesh
would take this one behind Tamim's 74 with 6 wickets and 9+ overs to spare.
Scotland
lost their opportunity due to rain and
Netherlands
got a shot in a rain curtailed 30 overs match. 199/7 behind Junaid's half century (52) was not enough to stop a determined Dutch squad who took the game with 7 balls to spare while losing only 4 wickets.
Netherlands
become the 13th nation to have official ODI status as a result of the victory. Surely a worrisome moment as
Ireland
and
Netherlands
are to be part of
Bangladesh
's group in the coming 2011 World Cup.
NZ returns for an ODI series (Tigers maul the Kiwis)
With the World cup in everyone's mind, the Test matches against
New Zealand
were held up and the series was changed to that of 5 ODIs. The 3 month break meant nothing to the weather Gods as the first match was interrupted by rain. Behind Shakib's 58 and a returning Shahriar Nafees (35) due to Tamim's injury,
Bangladesh
closed the innings at 228. In a repeat of the
Caribbean last summer, Mashrafe injured himself and turned the reigns over to Shakib. New Zealand were cruising with 2 down and well above the D/L method when Shakib struck twice in the 15th over right before the rain interruption. All of a sudden,
New Zealand
were behind the curve and 13 overs were reduced at the expense of 19 runs. A 50 run partnership between Taylor and Vettori seemed to have things under control but some tight bowling and spirited fielding swung the game around to
Bangladesh
's way. A solid beginning to the last over by Nazmul sealed the match but not before picking up a finger injury in the last ball.
Bangladesh
had stolen the first ODI by 9 runs.
The 2nd match was rained out and all of a sudden
Bangladesh
were going into the 3rd ODI with a chance to win and avoid a series defeat.
The 3rd ODI was a convincing win to drown out the possibility that the first ODI may have been a lucky win thanks to the D/L method. The bowlers all pitched in to bundle out the Kiwi's for 173. Shuvo was the pick of the litter with his 10-2-14-3 which would give him the man of the match award. Desperate to shake the 'minnow-basher' tag, Nafees (73) put on a 127 run partnership with Imrul (50) and helped secure the 7 wicket victory.
The 4th ODI came with the possibility of winning our first series against a full strength major test playing nation. Shakib started the charge with the bat (106) and saw
Bangladesh
to a healthy (considering pitch conditions) 241. He finished it with the ball (3/54) that saw Kane Williamson's maiden century go in vain. Shafiul followed in Nazmul's footsteps from the 1st ODI and bowled a solid final over under pressure to secure the 9 run win.
As if the series win wasn't enough, the media began to talk about a white wash. Shakib obliged and said it was very possible. Shakib's promise appeared to be less likely as
Bangladesh
succumbed to Vettori (3/32) and Mills (3/36) to crawl to 174. Inspired by the series win,
Bangladesh
tore through the Kiwi top order to have them wobbling at 20/5 until Vettori and Elliot dug in save an embarrassing defeat. It wasn't enough as Rubel took a que from Nazmul and Shafiul and put his stamp on the series (4/25) by bowling Mills out with 3 balls to spare and the Kiwi's short of the mark by 3 runs. Shakib would get his revenge on Vettori from earlier in the year and
Bangladesh
would seal a historical
Bangla
Wash of the Kiwis to add them to the list of
West Indies,
Zimbabwe
,
Ireland
,
Kenya
and
Scotland
.
ZIM returns (You know you missed them)
Its no Ashses, but no two other teams know each other like
Zimbabwe
and
Bangladesh
in recent years. They played 14 ODIs alone last year and they both returned to play each other with a fresh outlook:
Bangladesh
, fresh off of a historic whitewash of
New Zealand
and
Zimbabwe
, behind some solid performances against
South Africa
and wins earlier this year against
India
,
Sri Lanka
and
West Indies. But for
Bangladesh
, there was to be more at stake: The next rung in the ladder of supremacy.
Bangladesh
could overtake the
West Indies by winning the first two ODIs. On the other hand,
Zimbabwe
had started their last two tours in
Bangladesh
with a win only to lose the remaining matches. Would this time be any different? The other lingering question was the captaincy in the light of the return of Mashrafe. The board stuck with Shakib even though he publicly campaigned against it. Possessing more lives than a cat, Ashraful was again back in the fold after a very successful domestic season and leading
Bangladesh
to its first ever Gold in the recently completed Asian Games. With Tamim recovered from injury, Nafees would make way alongside sparsely used Juhurul.
Bangladesh
restricted
Zimbabwe
to 209 in the first ODI behind the spin of Razzak. Razzak would grab 4 en route to crossing the 150 ODI wicket mark.
Zimbabwe
would surprise
Bangladesh
behind some solid spin of their own to secure a 9 run win despite a fighting 63 from Shakib. The difference turned out to be the 3/25 spell in 9 overs by their pacer Mpofu, whereas the Bangldesh duo of Mashrafe and Shafiul combined for 0/57 in their 10 overs. Shakib blasted the team selection and fielding and called out the inclusion of Ashraful and Mashrafe specifically. Ashraful was soon dropped for Raqibul and Mahmadullah made way for Naeem, both claimed to be the better fielders in the team by Shakib. The captain called for them and they didn't disappoint.
The 2nd ODI was a back to basics no nonsense win. The Zimbabweans were restricted to 191 with Razzak (5/30) and Shakib (4/39) leading the way. Naeem responded to his captain by delivering an economical 10-0-27-1. Raqibul followed suit and joined with Junaid (53) to deliver the win with a fluent 65. The first ODI loss had cost crucial ranking points and equation now required West Indies losses to
Sri Lanka
to attain the #8 spot.
The 3rd ODI started counter to plan as both Tamim and Junaid were back in the pavilion with the score at 5. It was up to Captain Cool Shakib to once again deliver and he did (73) along with his trusty sidekick Mushfiq (63). Naeem and Mashrafe chipped in with some vital batting powerplay runs at the end to solidfy the target at 247. Razzak continued his streak and grabbed another 4 wickets (4/14) but this time was supported by the pacers. Shafiul took a career best 4/43 and Mashrafe even joined in with 10-1-20-1.
Fans celebrate yet another series win
Rain would cause an abandonment of the 4
th ODI setting up a meaningful 5
th ODI.
Bangladesh
would come firing out the gate in the final engagement of the year with a brilliant run out and restricting ZIM to 3/21 and keeping the run rate low for most of the match. Mash even looked good picking up too early wickets while Shafiul and Razzak barely gave away any runs. Razzak would, however, be denied any wickets but still would have done enough for a man of the series performance. Shakib would collect 3 wickets despite being the most expensive of the bowlers and further solidify his wicket count as the highest wicket taker in ODIs for the calendar year (46).
Zimbabwe
's 186/6 would never really look threatening, even after a quick departure of Kayes as Tamim and Junaid would put up a 136 run partnership. Tamim failed to secure the ton by 5 runs but Junaid saw through the game with an unbeaten 56 for a 6 wicket win. Shakib contributed 11 runs, 6 more than needed to become the highest run scorer between the two teams once again after having Chigumbura overtake him earlier in the match. The formula for
Zimbabwe
to win the first match only to be clean swept in the remaining matches would remain in tact.
Final thoughts
2010 was a scheduled 69 day calendar that encompassed 10 different oppositions (compared to 2009 which was 34 and 3). It started of with a lot of promise and slowly became tiring to the team and fans alike but finished off with a bang creating a very bright outlook heading into the World Cup. Its undeniable that the overall outcome was below the team's capability and had a few things such as umpiring decisions gone a little differently or less catches had been dropped we may have been celebrating a lot more. We had a golden opportunity to break into the ever exclusive top 8 rankings in ODIs and stayed in Test matches on average much longer than we were accustomed to. T20 remains a mystery to the team and it needs addressing regardless of what personal views towards the format maybe by board members or coaching staff or even some of the players.
On an individual level, the year was fantastic. Almost all of the players posted personal bests that were significant in nature. Shakib continues to carry the team on his back when it is needed and continues to break all forms of ranking records for Bangladesh (Test Batsman: 45, ODI Batsman: 19, ODI Bowler: 3, Test Bowler: 9, ODI All-rounder: 1, Test All-rounder: 3). Tamim has established himself as a world class player (Test Batsman: 20 and Wisden Test Cricketer of the Year) but needs to make his innings count towards a team result like he did in the final ODI vs. ZImbabwe. The spin attack looks fearsome with the return of Razzak (ODI bowler ranking:2) to form and Shuvo alongside Naeem a threat at home conditions but the pace is lacking. Mashrafe and Shafiul, however, in the last two matches against
Zimbabwe
showed promise as did the other pacers during the
New Zealand
series. Wicket Keeping remains a major concern and dropped catches and missed run outs have been costly.
The most important thing for the team at the moment is shed the underdog mentality and go into battle with aggression and venom. This includes press conferences and overall attitude on the field. For all the firsts and good news, there are still underlying concerns that cannot be ignored. Losses to
Ireland
,
Zimbabwe
and
Netherlands
show that the team has yet to comfortably distance themselves from the associates. The credit for
Bangladesh
now hovering in the ranks of West Indies and
New Zealand
goes as much to the undoing of
New Zealand
and West Indies as it does to the improvement seen in
Bangladesh
cricket as of late. Powerplays and T20 skills are still sub par, the pace attack has little to offer when playing more established teams and the word consistency may as well be a dreaded SAT word to the top order bar Tamim.
Here's to hoping for a solid 2011 with team oriented results never before witnessed in our decade long existence as a full fledged member. Bring on February 19th!
Test
Record: 0-7
Series : 0-4 (L-IND, @NZ, ENG, @ENG),
Results : L-113r, L-10w, L-121r, L-181r, L-9w, L-8w, L-I+80r
Broke 300+ : 6 out of 14 innings
Broke 400+ : 2 times
Best Innings : 419 vs. ENG
Declarations : None
Bowled out opponent innings : 4 out of 13
Follow Ons : 2
Follow Ons Opponent opted to not use : 1
Innings Defeat : 1
Allowed 400+ : 6 out of 7 innings (excludes declarations and successful chases)
Maximum: 599/5 d ENG
Wickets taken : 83 out of 140 (one innings defeat)
Highlights : Highest partnership Records ( overall and 2nd wicket 200 by Tamim/Junaid, 7th wicket 145 by Shakib/Mahmadullah, opening 185 by Tamim/Kayes), Tamim 5 consecutive 50+ scores
Significant Career Bests : Mushfiq 101, Tamim 151, Mahmadullah 115, Rubel 5/166, Shakib 100, Junaid 106, Naeem 59*, Shafiul 53, Kayes 75
ODI
Record: 9-18 (ENG, IRE, NZ x 4, ZIM x 3) 3 abandoned (SCO, NZ, ZIM)
Series : 2-1-3 (L-@NZ, L-ENG, L-@ENG, T-@IRE, W-NZ, W-ZIM)
Multi-team series : 1st round (SL/IND), 1st round (Asia Cup)
Results : L-7w, L-6w, L-9w, L-6w, L-146r, L-5w, L-3w, L-6w, L-2w, L-45r, L-6w, L-126r, L-139r, L-6w, W-5r, L-144r, L-7w, W-6w, L-6w, W-9r(D/L), W-7w, W-9r, W-3r, L-9r, W-6w, W-65r, W-6w
Opponents RR @ 6 or better: 8 [NED match not included]
Our RR @ 6 or better : 0 (NED match not included since it was a 30 over match)
Wickets taken : 149 out of 240 (only full 50 over matches)
Highlights : Posted highest ODI total vs. G8 team (296/6 vs. IND), Highest individual score vs. G8 (TI-125). Shakib crossed 100 ODI wicket mark. 1st win in any format vs. ENG, consecutive wins vs. NZ, 1st series win vs. full strength test nation, Shakib 200+/10w+ in NZ series, Shakib became first BD player to 5 ODI 100s, Shakib first to lead country in runs and wickets in a series vs. NZ , Junaid crossed 1K run mark, Razzak crossed 150 ODI wicket mark, Razzak Hattrick (ZIM), Shakib highest ODI wicket taker for 2010 (46)
Significant Career Bests : Imrul (101), Shakib 4/33, Tamim (125), Junaid (100), Shuvo (3/14 - 10 completed overs), Rubel 4/25, Shafiul 4/43
T20I
Record : 0-3
Series : 0-1(L-NZ)
Multi-team Series : 1st Round (WC vs. AUS/PAK), **Gold Medal in Asia Cup
Results : L-10w, L-21r, L-27r
Broke 150/7.5 an over : 1
Allowed more than 7.5 an over : 2
Wickets taken: 10 out of 30
Fifties : Ash (65[49])