Bangladesh Has Risen From Minnows To Noteworthy Challengers In Test Cricket

The last five years has witnessed Bangladesh transition from being minnows to a formidable challenger. The team has more meat in both their batting and bowling armoury

The transition from an associate nation to full-fledged Test playing member is quite the herculean task in the 'Gentleman's Game'. History suggests that all the teams which made the giant leap into red ball cricket at the international level have tasted heavy waters before establishing their credentials as a Test playing nation, in its true merit. With the turn of the new millennium in 2000, Bangladesh became only the 10th nation to enter the select Test playing club, after being accorded the status by the International Cricket Council. In Nov 2000, they played their maiden Test against sub continent rivals India in front of a jam packed Sher-E-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. The sub-continent nation had a lot to prove to the international fraternity as they were handed the coveted Test status edging out equally strong claimants in Kenya and Ireland. Perhaps, the pressure of creating a mark for themselves alongside their already established sub-continent neighbors in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka added that extra bit of burden on the team's shoulders. The 'Bangla Tigers' with their exploits in the 1999 World Cup had already built a reputation of being giant killers in the ODI arena but the big question remained was whether they had the mental fortitude and skill to compete at the highest level in the longer format. The first batch of Bangladeshi Test cricketers had some quality exponents both with the red cherry and willow. Memories of the talented stroke maker Habibur Bashar, the big burly Akram Khan and the gritty Javed Omar donning the whites and holding fort against potent pace attacks are still quite fresh and profound. True to the sub continent tradition, Bangladesh had quality spinners in Mohammad Rafique and Naimur Rahman who had their moments under the sun on the turning tracks back home. The balance to the side was lent by allrounder Khaled Mashud, who was equally skillful with bat and ball. And there were others like Aminul Islam, Rajen Saleh, Tapash Baisya, Shareer Nafeez, Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Enamul Haque to name a few...who tried hard but ended up with mediocre results at best. For more than a decade, Bangladesh had become the bashing boys in Test cricket and their only solace came with rare victorious over the perennial strugglers Zimbabwe and West Indies. They were definitely a step below the Test playing standards and struggled hard to compete with the already established big wigs. In 2004, Bangladesh registered their maiden Test series win over Zimbabwe (1-0) at home and conquered their first major milestone. However, their first triumphant moment of reckoning came when they beat the West Indies (2-0) in the Caribbean in 2009. The victory gave Bangladesh the confidence that they belonged to the big league. With the turn of the century, Bangladesh looked for the ideal successors to the pioneers of their Test cricket. Much to their relief, a crop of immensely talented players emerged who looked to have the repertoire to withstand the grind endured in the purest form of the game. Hard hitting opener Tamim Iqbal was trail blazer on top of their innings, Shakib Al Hasan became their ever dependable workhorse, all-rounder Mahmudullah was exciting to watch, Mushfiqur Rahim donned the gloves as a handy wicket-keeper batsman and Mashrafe Mortaza emerged a tireless seamer who bowled his heart out while leading the pace attack. The last five years has witnessed Bangladesh transition from being minnows to a formidable challenger. The team has more meat in both their batting and bowling armoury. The batting has become more consistent with the inclusion of Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque and Nasir Hossain, all of whom have shown the class and temperament to hold forte in the middle. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam are world class tweakers who have scripted some clinical wins for them in the recent past. Over the past five odd seasons, the performances have been there to back their credentials. They have drawn Test series against India and South Africa in 2015, England (1-1) in 2016 and Australia (1-1) in 2017 at home. However, the main problem lies with Bangladesh's dismal record while travelling abroad. It has been the usual status quo with Bangladesh getting drubbed by the formidable teams while playing on their turf. A dismal overseas record has limited Bangladesh to the bottom half of the ICC Test rankings. What Bangladesh really needs is less dependence on individual brilliance and much better performances collectively by their limited over specialists - Soumya Sarkar, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahim, Liton Das and Sabbir Rahman, who in all fairness haven't done justice to their potential at the Test level. With almost two decades into Test cricket, Bangladesh has traversed a tough journey to shed off their minnows tag but still need to improve a lot more to be reckoned as a real force in Test cricket. The upcoming tour against a formidable Indian side would once again be a real test of their mettle in red ball cricket. It would indeed be interesting to see if Bangladesh can pose some kind of a challenge to the Virat-Kohli led Indian team who at the moment seem unbeatable on home turf.