At the 2023 World Cup, Bangladesh qualified for the 2025 Champions Trophy and effected the first timed out in international cricket – but that was about it.
Bangladesh finished in 8th place in the group stage. Probably a few points lower than expected. After all, they never lost a bilateral ODI series on home soil between his 2016 and his 2023, and while not on exactly the same terms as India, it was a reasonable approximation .
They also had a strong run in the 2020-23 World Cup Super League, finishing in third place ahead of India, Australia and South Africa, the three World Cup semi-finalists.
Sometimes a team’s batting performance does not meet expectations. Sometimes I go bowling. In the case of Bangladesh, it was both.
If you take away Mahmudullah, all his batsmen averaged less than 33. None of the bowlers who delivered more than 25 overs averaged less than 36. When a team is doing well, you can’t expect much. Nine games failed in both respects, especially when Shakib he failed Alhassan two of them.
Speaking of Mahmudullah, he was a very latecomer to the World Cup race (although BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon did not rule him out). When he was playing, he didn’t come into bat in some games and in four different positions in other games, and almost a third of his scores came against South Africa after the game was almost over. He recorded it in one inning.
Shakib’s figures of 26.57 with the bat and 36.55 with the ball are befitting a man who produced the 2019 edition and went to four consecutive World Cups as the world’s highest-ranked all-rounder.
More performances were expected from Mushfiqur Rahim, a shadow of the man who averaged 52.76 points in the four years from 2018 to 2021. He barely reached his 200th run.
Or Mustafizur Rahman or Taskin Ahmed, bowlers of undeniable talent. Both have had careers long enough to lead a young pace attack. They went home with five wickets each. Their brilliant but fast speed bowlers failed to rise to the occasion and appeared as if they were blindsided.
Nazimul Hossain Shanto scored two fifties and a 45 on either side of six single-digit scoring streaks. Lytton Das was inconsistent, as was the clearly talented Twid Fridoi. Stunning Tanjid Hasantamim had some great shots, but not often enough.
Bangladeshi fans were overjoyed after their team reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup. They finished in 8th place in 2019 as well, but they beat South Africa to tie them on points with the teams in 6th and 7th place. There was much to celebrate and look forward to.
This is the first World Cup since 2011 that was worse than the last. And that’s not the worst part.
After Videogate, it is unlikely that Tamim Iqbal will return before the World Cup. The BCB was not friendly towards either Mahmudullah or Mushfiqur. Shakib is here, but it might not be for a while.
These four are not only Bangladesh’s highest scorers but also the only players to have scored five, four or, if you ignore Mohammad Ashraful, more than 3,000 runs. If Litton is taken away, the next name on the World Cup squad is Mehdi Hasan Miraz with 1,247. I don’t have much batting experience.
The bowling looks a little more consistent, but we can only hope that Bangladesh do not return to the top spot after Alan Donald’s departure. Even there, Mehdi will have to shoulder a lot of the burden if Shakib leaves. In the World Cup, none of his teammates took more wickets and he finished fifth in the run charts. You can see why Bangladesh wanted to include him in the Shakib-style top five before consecutive losses forced them to adopt this treaty.
It’s hard to see the benefit of ejecting a batter who doesn’t see the ball, the team’s most talked-about World Cup story. Years later, Bangladesh could see this tournament as a changing of the guard, a decisive moment marking the final exit of the giants and paving the way for the next generation.
The Champions Trophy is less than two years away, but with the right planning you should be ready by then.
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