Bangladesh cricket survived record losing streaks to beat the world's best
Between 2001 and 2004, Bangladesh lost 21 Tests in a row, and a separate run of 23 straight one-day defeats is also theirs. Critics asked whether the country had been promoted too soon. Two decades later it has beaten Australia, India, England and every other major side in home series.
Football was once the nation's favourite sport, but cricket had deep roots: East Pakistan sides played domestic cricket before independence in 1971, and Bangladesh joined the ICC as an associate in 1977. It took part in the first ICC Trophy in 1979, played a first one-day international against a full member on 31 March 1986, and waited until 1998 for a first ODI win, against Kenya, sparked by Mohammad Rafique's 77 and three wickets.
The breakthrough came with victory in the 1997 ICC Trophy, helped by artificial pitches laid at two Dhaka grounds so players could practise on surfaces like those at the tournament. At the 1999 World Cup in England they beat Scotland and then stunned Pakistan by 62 runs at Northampton, with Khaled Mahmud taking 3 for 31. That upset speeded promotion, and on 26 June 2000 Bangladesh became the tenth Test nation.
Their debut Test, against India in Dhaka on 13 November 2000, went better than feared: Aminul Islam scored 145 and the captain Naimur Rahman took six wickets, though India won by nine wickets. Hard years followed. With little first-class structure behind them, they lost ten of their first eleven Tests and fell to 87 all out against the West Indies in 2002, an innings defeat by 310 runs. Mohammad Ashraful did become the youngest centurion on Test debut.
The first Test win arrived against Zimbabwe in 2005 and a first overseas series in the West Indies in 2009. Since then they have reached a World Cup quarter-final in 2015, a Champions Trophy semi-final in 2017 and three Asia Cup finals, and won a first multi-team title in Ireland in 2019. By mid-2026 they had won 27 of 159 Tests, 169 of 464 ODIs and 87 of 217 T20 internationals.
Source: Bangladesh national cricket team
