From mere no-hopers to beating all teams: Bangladesh’s journey in ODIs – Part II
In the previous piece, we saw how the Bangladesh cricket seemed to have hit a road-block after playing at the highest level. They had obtained their Test status in 2000, but kept raking in the defeats after that as well. Even the rather inexperienced sides like Kenya and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748 beat them in the World Cup and the side was knocked out of the tournament without a win to their name.
Four years had passed since Bangladesh had won an international and the record was not supposed to get any better in 2003 as they were routed by India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in four successive games, before losing 11 continuous games to Australia (three matches), Pakistan (five) and England (three).
The patience was running thin. Captains were changed around and so were the players. For long, the Bangladeshi side had hidden behind the veil of inexperience, but by 2004, they had been playing international cricket for 18 years, and had only three wins to show for it – one against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, mired in controversy.
2004 Turnaround
2004 was their first real fruitful year. In 2004, they first beat Zimbabwe, and then, in the Asia Cup that followed, they crushed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, at Dhaka. The celebrations were greater because this was said to be a spotless win, without any allegations of any kind that plagued their earlier victory over Pakistan.
The corner seemed to have been turned and the self-belief was slowly returning for the Bangladeshis. They began the year of 2005 with a series win against Zimbabwe. After losing the first two of their five matches, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 steamrolled the opposition in the last three games to clinch the series 3-2.
And then came Cardiff 2005, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the NatWest Series in England. Unlike some of their previous wins, Bangladesh was chasing the target, and had to make 250 against an attack consisting of Glen McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz. Mohammad Ashraful cracked a century and captain Habibul Bashar guided them to a victory with four balls to spare. This has been arguably their greatest ever victory in the ODI format of the game.
An established cricket nation
By that time, the Bangladeshi side had begun to establish themselves as a team to reckon with, and with the decline of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 following the political issues in that country, Bangladesh began to win the games against them rather comfortably.
In 2006, they started with a victory over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, before beating Zimbabwe in seven successive ODIs. Scotland were brushed aside in two ODIs they faced and the side entered the World Cup of 2007, keen to erase the memories of 2003.
And they did it in some style. The first game they played was against India and the Indians went in as firm favourites. However, some excellent batting by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamim-Iqbal-c2640 and Mushfiqur Rahil sealed the win for their side. They qualified for the second round at the expense of India and then, went on to beat South Africa.
This meant that only http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mashrafe-Mortaza-c1917’s four wickets and Junnaid Siddique’s 85, while England was finally taken care of in the second ODI at Bristol to complete a full circle.
With the victories, Bangladesh had completed an amazing growth that saw them beginning as one of the weakest teams in the world, to one that could have a chance at beating the best.
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