Tigers yet to live up to expectation despite big milestone

NM Sports Desk: Dhaka, Dec-29,

Morning doesn’t show the day always- Bangladesh cricket’s year of 2022 could be described in just one sentence.

A year that started with an epic Test victory on New Zealand soil, ended in a heartbreaking three-wicket defeat to India at home soil, when Bangladesh sniffed another historical Test victory.

As Bangladesh already established them a force in ODI cricket, which was reinforced further by a first ever ODI series victory on South African soil this year, the challenge of 2022 actually was to make them a strong contender in Test and T20 cricket.

The expectation was not met entirely but Bangladesh made a significant stride in both formats. Bangladesh now just need to learn how to close out the close games, a thing which they applied so well in the ODI format.

Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan summed up the year with one simple statement: “I felt that, overall, we had a great year in 2022. Our mentality, especially, where we lacked, I think we have improved a lot. The sort of things we talk about in the dressing room, the type of leadership that’s being created, we can have a different 2023.”

“We should win all three Test series in 2023. We should have a T20 team ready in the next six months, one that will do very well in the 2024 T20 World Cup. We have a settled ODI side. We have lost just one home series since 2015. If we can play as a team, get contributions from every aspect, we should do well in the World Cup.”

A quick stat

Bangladesh played 10 Test matches this year, winning just one that took a landmark Test victory on New Zealand soil at the start of the year. They then lost eight matches and drew one just against Sri Lanka.

In 15 ODIs in this year, Bangladesh won 10 matches and lost five but most importantly they won a series in South Africa for the first time and beat India for the second successive in a three-match series at home. However, if those were the high points, the low point was that they lost a series against Zimbabwe for the first time since 2013.

They however played 21 T20 Internationals in which they registered victory in just six matches. The Tigers lost 14 matches while one match ended in a no result. While they remained vulnerable in the T20 format like the Test, this year they broke the jinx of losing streak in the main round of the T20 World Cup, beating Netherlands and Zimbabwe. They in fact got the victory in the main round of the T20 World Cup for the first time since the 2007 edition.

A landmark Test victory on New Zealand soil

The landmark Test victory at the margin of eight wickets came at a moment when everyone completely wrote off Bangladesh as a Test nation. When they came to visit New Zealand for a Test series at the start of year, no one could think even in their wild imagination that Bangladesh would win a match in New Zealand where they have never won a game in any format of cricket in 31 attempts.

But the 32 match, the first Test of the two-match Test series in Mount Maunganui possibly wrote a different script—that Bangladesh would break the losing streak here with a win and that too in Test format, which is not their favourite format indeed. Thanks to Devon Conway’s 122, New Zealand posted 328 in the first innings and Bangladesh replied with 458, taking 120 runs lead thanks to newbie Mahmudul Hasan’s 78, captain Mominul Haque’s 88, Liton Das’s 86 and Najmul Hossain Shanto’s 64. Still it was beyond imagination that Bangladesh could win the game.

But a memorable spell of fast bowler Ebadot Hossain who scalped 6-46, tilted the match in Bangladesh’s favour as New Zealand were bowled out for just 169 in their second innings, setting Tigers just 40-run target to win the game. And Bangladesh didn’t falter as they raced to the victory, losing just two wickets. The significance of the victory is huge also considering that it came without the service of the senior players. While the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan missed the game, Mushfiqur Rahim’s contribution was just 12.

But the Test progress remains static

It was believed that Bangladesh would be a force to reckon with in Test format after a Test victory on New Zealand soil. But Bangladesh were brought down to earth in the immediate next Test in Christchurch which New Zealand won by an innings and 117 runs. Thereafter Bangladesh lost Test series against Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and India. Even though they came close to a victory against India at the fag end of the year, their Test progress remained static.

Mominul steps down as Test captain

Just three wins in 17 Tests from 2019 to 2022 was enough to seal Mominul Haque’s fate as Test captain. But the situation got worsened when he experienced a long bad patch. So unarguably the best Test batter of Bangladesh had to step down as Test captain. His decision came in the wake of the home series loss against Sri Lanka, a series in which Bangladesh looked on course to win a Test.

Mominul who has led the side since October 2019, looked under pressure and managed only 162 runs from six matches, with just one half-century this year before quitting the captaincy. He managed a mere 11 runs in three innings against Sri Lanka, who won the two-Test series 1-0.
“I felt that captaining a side is tough when I am not scoring and the team is not winning. I think it is best to quit the captaincy,” Mominul said.

Shakib got Test captaincy

It was expected that Shakib Al Hasan would get the captaincy of the Test team if Mominul stepped down. In fact there was discussion in the board whether Shakib should be appointed as captain, removing Mominul from his post. But internally Shakib made it clear, he won’t take the captaincy if Mominul was forced to resign. Since Mominul willingly stepped down, Shakib took the Test captaincy. He was earlier given the T20 captaincy also. Mominul, had taken over the captaincy from Shakib in 2019 when the latter was suspended by ICC for not reporting corrupt approaches.

Tamim, Mushfiqur retire as Mahmudullah dropped from T20

The year also marked the retirement of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim from the T20 format. As Bangladesh team management tried to instill a fresh blood which every nation in the world follows, Mahmudullah Riyad was also dropped from the format. Only Shakib Al Hasan amongst the seniors retained his place and he actually was given the captaincy role to bring a shape into the T20 squad.

Tamim Iqbal announced his retirement from T20Is shortly after leading the ODI side to a 3-0 series win over West Indies in Guyana. Bangladesh won the match by four wickets, with Tamim winning the player-of-the-series award. He announced his retirement in MS Dhoni style.

He wrote a short message on his official Facebook page, posting in Bangla saying, “consider me retired from T20 internationals from today. Thanks everyone.” Mushfiqur Rahim retired after the Asia Cup T20 tournament which was held just before the T20 World Cup. He performed badly in that tournament and the fate was sealed.

Alongside him, Mahmudullah Riyad also had an inconsistent performance. But while Mushfiqur realized that time is over for him, sadly Mahmudullay didn’t and he paid the price of being dropped from the T20 World Cup squad. The team management indeed made it clear, there is no chance to bring back Mahmudullah into the squad again.

A spot of bother for Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s success in ODI cricket is going on such vehemently that they made them a team to beat any team in this format on any condition. The burning example was the series victory on South African soil for the first time. Whereas a team like India was beaten badly in South Africa.

Since their defeat at the hands of England by 2-1 in 2016, Bangladesh have never lost an OD series at home. Such was their prowess in ODI cricket but the record was insulted to some extent when they lost a series in Zimbabwe. Led by an excellent Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by 2-1 in the ODI series and also clinched the T20 series by same margin. That was only a spot of bother in Bangladesh’s excellent ODI record.

A mixed year for women cricketers

The last year was a fruitful year for women cricketers who qualified in the ODI World Cup for the first time. So it was expected that they will make a giant stride. However like the Men’s team they also didn’t make significant move but they had some success.

They got a historical victory on their first appearance in the ODI World Cup when they beat Pakistan by 9 runs. They duly lost all of the matches in the World Cup.

They however played 10 ODIs this year, losing seven and winning one while the two other matches were washed out. In T20 cricket, they had fairly good record, winning 10 in 17 matches but at the fag end of the year, they lost all of the matches in New Zealand tour including being all out for 32 runs in the first T20 match of the three-match series.

However even though they won a good number of matches in this format, the most disappointing factor was that they failed to retain the title of Asia Cup T20. The tournament was held in Bangladesh this year but the hosts exited from the event from the group phase.

Disappointing year of Under-19 team

Expectation was high on Bangladesh youth team when they went to West Indies to defend their Under-19 Cricket World Cup title. But they finished at eighth position, making it as one of their worst tournament ever. In 2020, Bangladesh Under-19 team won the title, beating mighty India. However India this year regained the title, securing a four-wicket win against England.

A year to remember for Anamul Haque Bijoy

Anamul Haque became the first Bangladeshi batter to score 1000 plus runs in a single season of Dhaka Premier League (DPL) since it got the List A status in 2013. He eventually finished with 1042 runs, a performance that earned him the place in the national team’s Test squad after eight years and ODI and T20 squad after three years hiatus.

Liton Das, the Player of the Year

There should be no contender of Liton Das after his blockbuster year for Bangladesh in three formats of the cricket. He is the highest run getter for Bangladesh in every format of cricket, establishing him as the No.1 batter of the country.

With the era of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim coming to the end, Liton now established him as the next leader through his tremendous performance. At the far end of this year, he moved to 12th in ICC Test rankings. It’s the best rankings by a Bangladeshi batter so far and Liton is now within striking distance to break into top 10 for the first time as a Bangladeshi batter. However overall in three formats, he scored 1921 runs which is the highest by Bangladeshi batter in any calendar year and the second highest after Babar Azam in 2022.

He scored most ODI runs for Bangladesh (577), most T20I runs for Bangladesh (544), most Test runs for Bangladesh (800), most 50+ scores in every format.

Bangladesh players:

Stat in Test cricket

Most runs-Liton Das (800)

Highest individual score-Mushfiqur Rahim (175) against Sri Lanka

Most fours-Liton Das (98)

Most sixes-Shakib Al Hasan (8)

Highest average -Zakir Hasan (46.50)

Highest average (min 10 innings)-Liton Das (44.44)

Most 50-Liton Das (5)

Most 100-Liton Das, Mushfiqur rahim (2)

Highest strike rate (min 10 innings)-Nurul Hasan Sohan (65.83)

Highest strike rate -Shoriful Islam (77.55)

Most balls faces-Liton Das (1387)

Most minutes batted—Liton Das (2035)

Most ducks-Khaled Ahmed (8)

Most innings batted-Najmul Hossain Shanto (19)

Most wicket-Mehidy Hasan Miraz (31)

Best bowling figure -Ebadot Hossain (6-46) against New Zealand

Most 4+ wickets-Taijul Islam (4)

Most 5 wickets-Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul, Ebadot (1)

Best bowling average (min 50 overs)-Shakib Al Hasan (29.56)

Best bowling average -Mominul Haque (23.66)

Best strike rate (min 50 overs)-Nayeem Hasan (53.00)

Best economy rate (min 50 overs) -Shakib Al Hasan (2.46)

Most maiden -Mehidy Hasan Miraz (66)

Stat in ODI cricket

Most runs-Liton Das (577)

Highest individual score-Liton Das (136) against Afghanistan

Highest batting average-Mehidy Hasan Miraz (66.00)

Most 50-Liton Das (4)

Most 100-Liton Das(1)

Most sixes-Mehidy Hasan Miraz (10)

Most fours-Liton Das (67)

Most ducks-Najmul Hossain Shanto (2)

Most minutes batted-Liton Das (1048)

Most balls faced-Liton Das (694)

Most wickets-Mehidy Hasan Miraz (24)

Best bowling figure -Taijul Islam (5-28) against West Indies

Best bowling average-Taijul islam (13.75)

Most maidens -Nasum Ahmed (8)

Best economy rate (min 20 overs) -Nasum Ahmed (3.39)

Best strike rate (min 20 overs) -Ebadot Hossain (19.20)

Stat in T20 cricket

Most runs-Liton Das (544)

Highest Individual score -Afif Hossain (77*) against UAE

Highest batting average-Najmul Hossain Shanto (30.80)

Highest batting strike rate (min 5 innings) -Liton Das (140.20)

Most 50+ score -Liton Das (4)

Most fours-Liton Das (57)

Most sixes-Liton Das (16)

Most wickets-Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (13)

Best bowling figure-Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (5-20) against Zimbabwe

Best bowling average (min 15 overs)-Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (18.30)

Highest bowling strike (min 15 overs)—Ebadot Hossain (13.00)

Best bowling economy (min 15 overs) -Mahedi Hasan (6.42)

Most MOTM award -Taskin Ahmed (2)

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