After years of stagnation and failure, Bangladesh seem to be on the right track in T20Is

Bangladesh's 3-0 win in the T20I series against current T20 world champions England might look impressive on paper, but what's been really impressive is the manner in which they won.

The Tigers played with the chutzpah and panache that is often associated with the England team.

Under the captaincy of Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh selected a team full of youth and vigour and that translated to some of the best fielding they've produced in their history. 

It also helped that the side selected had players in it like - Towhid Hridoy, Rony Talukdar and Najmul Hossain Shato - that had performed well in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

While everything fell into place for Bangladesh to create the perfect concoction to defeat England, the T20I format is one where the team has generally struggled.

From failing to play the format with the right intensity and dynamism to often playing on pitches not conducive to positive batting has resulted in Bangladesh falling behind the rest of the top teams in the format.

But that seems to be on its way to changing now and so with that being said, let's take a closer look at how Bangladesh did so far in T20I cricket. 

Early promise

In 2006, when Bangladesh played its first-ever T20I game, they won it and the one-match series against Zimbabwe.

Although T20Is were in their infancy and not really considered a serious format of cricket, Bangladesh had players like Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed, that could play it with the required exuberance and innovation.

That led to Bangladesh winning their first match in the first-ever T20I World Cup by defeating West Indies in South Africa in 2007.

A reality check

From 2007 onwards, Bangladesh failed to win a single T20I match till 2011.

Though it has to be said that they didn't play too many games, just four matches in five years.

The next win came against West Indies at home where Bangladesh won the one-match series 1-0.

Lack of playing the format coupled with players leaving for the rebel T20 tournament, the Indian Cricket League (ICL), in 2008 can be attributed to the team struggling in those years. 

The first three-match series win, but more disappointment after

Bangladesh would win their first multi-match T20I series against Ireland in 2012 as they clean-swept the Irish away from home 3-0.

But from there, they would lose against Scotland away from home, followed by a 1-1 series draw against the Netherlands in the Netherlands. 

The 2012 T20 World Cup was also a forgettable one for Bangladesh as they were eliminated in the group stage without winning a match. 

Bangladesh would go on to lose four more series and draw one till the next World Cup.

A forgettable T20 World Cup in 2014 but a better 2015 Asia Cup

Bangladesh were the hosts of the 2014 T20 World Cup and it was another tournament to forget as they failed to win a single match in the group stage, although they won two of their three qualifiers.

2015 was a good year for Bangladesh in white-ball cricket as under Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the team had a good World Cup, and that also resulted in a 1-0 series win against Pakistan.

The team also reached the final of the Asia Cup and defeated teams like Sri Lanka and Pakistan along the way but came up short against India in the final.

The match against India everyone wants to forget and another final loss 

The 2016 World Cup in India had a similar story for Bangladesh as they won their qualifiers but in the group stage, failed to deliver. 

The loss at Bengaluru against hosts India in the World Cup is one that haunts cricket fans to this very day where the team needed two runs from the last three balls and failed. 

By 2017, Mashrafe had decided to retire from the T20I format after some issues with the management, but Bangladesh put up a spirited display in the Nidahash trophy where they reached the final and even chased down a total in excess of 200 for the first time, against hosts Sri Lanka.

But once again in the final, they came up short against India. 

A series win against Windies and better results at home in 2021

Things started to get better for Bangladesh from 2018, slightly, as they won the T20I series against defending T20 World Cup winners West Indies 2-1 in the West Indies.

Bangladesh would also win their first-ever T20I against India in India but lost the series 2-1 in 2019.

They would win the series against Zimbabwe later that year 2-0 and another one away from home 2-1 in 2021.

But the really impressive results came after that in 2021 at home as Bangladesh defeated Australia 4-1 and then New Zealand 3-2 to enter the World Cup full of confidence. 

That however didn't happen as life outside the sticky pitches in Mirpur was very different and Bangladesh simply didn't have the facilities or preparation to do anything memorable.

Shakib takes captaincy and a wind of change emerges

Following a disappointing World Cup in the UAE, Mahmudullah lost his captaincy and Shakib took over from him.

The results didn't come immediately as Bangladesh were knocked out in the group stage of the Asia Cup in 2022.

But the World Cup in Australia had Bangladesh playing better cricket and winning two games in the group stage against The Netherlands and Zimbabwe.

They also came close to beating India and competing against Pakistan.

With players like Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim retiring from the shortest format, and Mahmudullah dropped, Shakib is able to field a more youthful and energetic side that is capable of playing T20Is as it should be played.

The process is better now, and the results are expected to be more consistent from here on in.