Bangladesh cricket – a frustrating chapter of the past – is now finally on its way to have some of their glory days. The team is more than just competitive – more so in ODIs than any other format.
The team from the sub-continent looked like an incomplete project for a very long period of time, but that have changed in the recent past after stunning performances in two mega events in the last three years.
During the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2016, Bangladesh knocked out England to qualify for the quarterfinals for the first-time ever in their cricketing history.
The Tigers as they are called, followed their successful World Cup campaign to the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017, where they qualified for the semi-finals for the first time in an ICC event.
The most impressive aspect of their performance was the fact that they qualified for the last-four at the expense of teams like Australia and New Zealand.
In their last assignment in the ODI cricket, the Mashrafe Mortaza-led unit registered an impressive 2-1 win against West Indies in their own home conditions.
In the coming event, Bangladesh will start as the favourites from their group as they are placed alongside emerging Afghanistan and struggling Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh was the finalist in the tournament's last edition, which was played in a T20 format.
However, in the previous editions of the Asia Cup, Bangladesh had a horrid record of just four wins in 37 matches in the competition.
Their best-run in the tournament's history came in 2012 where they ended as a runners-up after a heart-breaking two-run defeat against Pakistan in the final.
Bangladesh will play their first against Sri Lanka on September 15, whereas their match against Afghanistan will be played on September 20.
Batting
In the batting department, the team will be depending on the likes of veteran opener Tamim Iqbal, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and middle-order batsman Mahmudullah, all of whom are team's top-four scorer in the calendar year in the ODIs.
Iqbal is being in outstanding form this year and is the team's highest run-scorer with 539 runs in eight matches at an outstanding average of 89.84 with the help of two centuries and four half-centuries. However, his strike-rate of 76.89 will not please the team management one bit.
Al Hasan is also having an impressive year in the 50-over format as he has scored 353 runs in seven innings at an impressive average of 50.42.
Rahim is having a decent year with the bat so far as he has scored 252 runs at an average of 37.50, whereas Mahmudullah has scored 219 runs at an average of 43.80 and strike-rate of 90.12.
Bowling
On the other hand, in the bowling department, the team is being relying heavily on pacers where Rubel Hossain, Mortaza and Mustafizur Rahman have been the pick of the bowlers.
Hossain in particular was more than just impressive for the Tigers this year as he has claimed 14 wickets in eight matches at an impressive average of 18.21 and strike-rate of 21.1.
Players to watch
Rubel Hossain
Tamim Iqbal
Mahmudullah
