bangladesh

Biography

Full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and one-day international status, Bangladesh played its first Test match against India in 2000. The Asian minnows made their official international cricket debut at the 1979 ICC Trophy in England, where they had mixed results, leaving the tournament with 2 wins and 2 defeats. But it was only in the year 1986 that Bangladesh played its first ODI match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

With cricket getting more popular among the Bangladeshi people, the game got a fillip when the team won the ICC Trophy in Malaysia in 1997. Also known as The Tigers, they qualified for the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time. Nobody really gave Bangladesh much attention at the tournament until a shock win over Pakistan in a group phase match made everyone sit up and take notice. Test status was granted to Bangladesh in June 2000. At the end of 2007, the side had played in 49 Tests, winning only once against a Zimbabwe team that was already weakened by the loss of several key players. There was criticism that the team's performance was under par and this led to repeated calls for them to lose their Test status.

Bangladesh co-hosted the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup along with India and Sri Lanka, but unfortunately, failed to qualify for the knock-out stage, thereby ending their World Cup campaign in disappointment. Since then, however, Bangladesh have been a force to reckon with especially at home and in the shorter format. They fared better in the 2015 World Cup which took place in Australia where they beat the English side and hence finished above them to enter the quarter-final stage. They were eventually beaten by the then reigning champions, India.

The Bangla Tigers kept growing after that. Even in the longest format of the game, they bagged wins over Australia, England and Sri Lanka in their own backyard. An even more impressive Champions Trophy in England followed in 2017 where the Asian minnows unexpectedly made it to the semis, finishing second in a group which included, Australia, England and New Zealand. However, their run there was once again ended by the Indian team.