Roaring while roaming

Top scores: Mushfiqur 200, Ashraful 190, Nasir 100
Result: Draw

Bangladesh lost their first 14 Tests against Sri Lanka. In Galle, when Sri Lanka posted 570 for 4, Bangladesh were looking at a familiar story. Instead of caving in though, their batsmen ran up the country's highest total in Tests. Mushfiqur Rahim hit the team's first ever Test double century after Mohammad Ashraful fell 10 short of the landmark. Mushfiqur was thrilled with the draw: "The team that often keeps you in the field for days that beat you regularly, we wanted to give it back to them. I think they are shocked, because they couldn't imagine we would play well."

Top scores: Bashar 72
Result: Lost, by one wicket

One of Bangladesh's early heartbreaks in Test cricket. For three of the game's four days, they were the side on top. Habibul Bashar's half-century was the bedrock of a respectable 281 on a testing Multan track: "It was indeed a green wicket there, and I rate my 72 in the first innings as one of my best knocks," Bashar said. After that left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique and medium-pacer Khaled Mahmud grabbed nine wickets to earn a 106-run lead. Even a second-innings implosion didn't deter them, as Bangladesh had Pakistan gasping at 132 for 6 chasing 261. They hadn't counted on Inzamam-ul-Haq though, who did the bulk of the scoring on a nervy fourth day to take Pakistan to a one-wicket win. Mashrafe Mortaza summed up Bangladesh's feelings: "I think almost everyone was crying. Ashraful cried in the bathroom. The environment suddenly turned sour. We knew we would win but we couldn't finish it off. "

Top scores: Mashud 103*, Saleh 51
Result: Drawn

Centuries from Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Rafique took Bangladesh to 416 in the first innings, but the side had an even more remarkable performance in the second innings. After taking a 64-run first-innings lead, Bangladesh subsided to 94 for 6 by stumps on the fourth day and a 27th Test defeat in 29 matches looked likely. Khaled Mashud made sure that wasn't the case by making his maiden Test century, and defying West Indies for so long that Bangladesh could actually declare after tea. It was the first time they had declared in a Test, and though the game was drawn, it felt like a victory for the fledgling Bangladesh side.

Top scores: Tamim 103, Kayes 75, Junaid 74
Result: Lost

After conceding a big first-innings lead at Lord's, Bangladesh were staring at another Test defeat. Tamim Iqbal made sure it wasn't all one-way traffic with a stirring 94-ball century that earned him a place on the famous honours board. Tamim had hit four fifties in five innings against England that year, but at Lord's he galloped to triple figures with the fastest hundred by a Bangladesh batsman. Though England took out a victory on the fifth day, Tamim had at least given Bangladesh fans an innings to savour. Asking for patience, he said: "If you start a chocolate company, you can't compete with Cadburys in the first ten years, because it's a big company. It will take time to be like them."

Top scores: Mahmudullah 115, Shakib 87
Result: Lost

The follow-on loomed for Bangladesh in their only Test of the tour before a lively seven-wicket stand between Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan forced New to bat again. Their record-breaking 145-run partnership pushed Bangladesh towards 400, a total they had passed only once previously in an away Test. It was Mahmudullah's maiden Test century, coming less than a month after an unbeaten 96 against India. Shakib missed out on a hundred in the first innings, but he thumped a 129-ball 100 in the second after the top-order toppled over again.