Bangladesh slide, Steyn and Yousuf soar

When Bangladesh beat India and South Africa in the 2007 World Cup, there was reason to believe they would finally shrug off their minnows tag and begin to challenge the top teams more consistently. Both wins were achieved overseas - though conditions were fairly similar to the ones at home - against tough opponents, on the biggest world stage.

Those wins should have sparked a revival in fortunes, but the last year has been a particularly dismal one for them. Since they beat South Africa, they have been beaten 18 times in 21 ODIs, and their only victories have been in three home games against Ireland. Leave those games aside, and they've been beaten 18 straight times, including once by Ireland. The slide started with two defeats at home against India, and it has gone progressively further downhill since Mohammad Ashraful took over the captaincy, with successive defeats against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan.

Bangladesh have won 39 out of 176 ODIs so far, but 33 of those wins have been against Zimbabwe and other non-Test-playing teams. The table below traces Bangladesh's performances against the top teams over the years, which clearly shows why their results in the last year have been so disappointing.

For long, Bangladesh's biggest problem has been the inconsistency of their batsmen, and the next table indicates that issue isn't close to being resolved. During the 2005-2007 period, the batting improved significantly - their average 50-over score had gone up to 210 for 9 - but over the last year the team has only batted an average of 47.3 overs before being bowled out.

Among the players who have played at least ten ODIs against the top teams during this period, only two - Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan - have an average of more than 25. The biggest letdown has been the performance of their captain: Ashraful has managed just three scores of more than 25 in his last 17 innings against the top teams, and has lasted an average of 22 deliveries per dismissal.

Steyn conquers the subcontinent
Indian conditions were expected to blunt the effectiveness of Dale Steyn, but like Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock had done before him, Steyn conquered India, further enhancing his already considerable stature in world cricket.

Steyn has 46 wickets in nine Tests in the subcontinent at a superb average of 21.58, and those numbers aren't diminished much even when his stats against Bangladesh - 14 wickets in two Tests - are excluded. Among overseas fast bowlers who have taken at least 20 wickets in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka since 2000, Steyn's numbers land him in the top five. Glenn McGrath, Darren Gough, Jason Gillespie and Shaun Pollock have better averages, but none has been as explosive in terms of strike-rate: Steyn averages a wicket every 6.2 overs, and has thrice taken five in an innings, a feat no other bowler has managed more than once.

Yousuf on a roll
The year 2006 belonged to Mohammad Yousuf the Test batsman - in 11 Tests he scored nine centuries, and fell only 12 short of averaging 100 for the year. This season he has been having a similar run in ODIs: in 18 games since October 2007, Yousuf averages 97.10, with ten scores of more than 50. Admittedly, Yousuf has been helped by a couple of factors - eight of those games were against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, while he was also unbeaten in an equal number of innings. Over the last seven months, he has been easily the most prolific ODI batsman.