Cricket is a sport that has an immense and passionate admiration in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi Cricket Team or the Tigers is administrated by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Bangladesh is a member of the International Cricket Council with Test and one-day international status. Bangladesh Cricket Team has a strong domestic league, which on many occasions also saw Test players from many different countries like, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, England decking the cricket fields of Bangladesh.
History
Bangladesh played in the World Cup for the first time in 1999. Bangladesh Cricket team played its first Test match in 2000 against India at Dhaka, becoming the tenth Test nation. In the years between 1979-1996 they could not qualify for the tournament and before that in 1975 they were not eligible or the contest as the country was not an ICC member. They won the ICC trophy in 1997 and thereby qualified for the 1999 World Cup. They have participated in the 2003 World Cup as well, giving them two exposures of the tournament.
The Bangladeshi team has a lot of potential and under the watchful eyes of coach Dav Whatmore the team has shown considerable improvement. With dedication and hard work on its side, the team can be expected to be world class in a few years. That it is moving in that direction is beyond doubt.
Performance
Bangladesh is the newest member to join the Test playing nations club. Bangladesh got Test status in 2000. The decision received a lot of flak from many cricketing big wigs, and was also quite understandable as Bangladesh lost 31 of its first 34 Tests, with a record 21 losses. The team was clearly weak gave no competition to the other Test teams across the world. However the disappointing spell finally came to an end in early 2005 when Bangladesh, playing their 35th Test, defeated Zimbabwe by 226 runs, thereby creating history for themselves. The team had come very close to winning a few matches in the past, but nothing quite went their way and so this victory called for a lot of celebration.
They followed the win by a one day series win, which not only saw Bangladesh win its first series but also it’s first ODI. But on June 18 Bangladesh caused one of the biggest upsets by defeating the mighty Australians. It was a historic occasion for Bangladeshi cricket and they celebrated in style. 2006 got off to a good start for Bangladesh when they defeated Sri Lanka for the first time in an ODI. They also came very close to defeating Australia in a Test, but could not manage to pull it off. However, a win against Kenya in August this year made for some consolation.
Chances in the 2007 World Cup
Bangladesh may cause a few upsets in 2007 world cup. The Bangladesh Team’s Chances in the 2007 World Cup don’t seem very bright. Though the team has improved a lot in the last few months, Bangladesh still doesn’t really qualify as one of the potential winners of the cup. If we were to go by their past performances in the World Cup, then Bangladesh would not be given any chance to even perform well. However, that will not be a fair thing to do as since the 2003 World Cup, the team has improved a lot and shown considerable potential. Realistically speaking, the team would like to finish the tournament with a few wins to their credit, and if they can go past the initial rounds then nothing like it. However for that to happen, they have to improve upon their bowling and their talented batsmen need to play more mature cricket.