85 Tests, 70 defeats

Before the start of the two-Test series in the West Indies, Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh captain, reckoned he would be happy to draw both Tests. As it turned out, his team didn't get close to achieving that result in either Test, losing the first one by ten wickets, and the second by 296 runs. In the entire series, Bangladesh averaged 21.22 runs per wicket with the bat, and topped 200 just once in four attempts; they took only 21 West Indian wickets while losing 40 of their own, and averaged 54.57 runs per wicket with the ball. The gulf between the two teams was huge, and given that West Indies themselves aren't among the top Test teams going around today, that's a damning indictment on where Bangladesh are at the moment in the five-day format.

It's almost 14 years since Bangladesh became a Test-playing nation, and during this period they've played 85 Tests. It's normal for teams to struggle in this format in their early days, but Bangladesh's numbers have been particularly disappointing, even allowing for that early struggle. Out of those 85 Tests they've lost 70, and most of them have been by huge margins - 36 by an innings, six by more than 200 runs, and eight more by nine or ten wickets. Their four wins are equally split against Zimbabwe and West Indies, but the two wins against West Indies were against a second-string side in 2009, where the entire batting line-up consisted of players who wouldn't have made it into the first XI. Some of their best Test performances have come in defeats - by one wicket, against Pakistan, and by three wickets, against Australia and New Zealand - but the truly inspirational moments have been too few and far between for Bangladesh as a Test team.

A comparison with other teams after 85 Tests shows how far behind Bangladesh are as a Test team. England and Australia obviously had far better numbers, but even other teams have been far more competitive than Bangladesh. West Indies, who celebrated their 500th Test with victory in the second match of the series in St Lucia, had an impressive 25-30 win-loss record in their first 85 matches, including victories in Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and India. In fact, their 85th Test match was a historic one - at the Gabba against Australia, they were involved in Test cricket's first tied Test.

Pakistan had fewer wins and losses, but plenty of draws, and a win-loss ratio of 0.60. They too had achieved Test victories in England, Australia and New Zealand during this period. Eleven of South Africa's 15 Test wins during this period came at home, but among their overseas victories were one each at Lord's and Adelaide. Sri Lanka's win-loss ratio in their first 85 Tests was at par with South Africa's, with overseas wins in New Zealand and Pakistan. India's eight Test wins in their first 85 matches were all at home, but they managed to draw 43 games, which is slightly more than 50%. Zimbabwe had a better win-loss record than New Zealand in their first 85 Tests, beating India at home, and Pakistan home and away. New Zealand's win-loss is the closest to Bangladesh's, but even their record of 5-42 is twice as good as Bangladesh's 4-70 (in terms of win-loss ratio). The key difference was that New Zealand drew 38 Tests, compared to just 11 by Bangladesh. That also meant New Zealand lost about 50% of their first 85 matches, compared to Bangladesh's 82%.

The batting and the bowling have both been disappointing for Bangladesh. Their batsmen have scored 35 centuries in these 85 Tests, the second-lowest among all teams, after New Zealand's 32. West Indies' batsmen had made 94 hundreds in their first 85 Tests. Bangladesh's bowling average of 50.65 runs per wicket is easily the worst among all teams. They are also the only side who haven't taken 1000 wickets in their first 85 Tests - they have 900, which works out to an average of 10.6 wickets per Test match.

Stats for each team after 85 Tests

Team	W/ L/ D	W/ L ratio	Defeat %	Bat ave	Bowl ave	100s	Wkts taken
England	41/ 29/ 15	1.41	34.12	24.97	21.16	45	1479
Australia	34/ 35/ 16	0.97	41.18	23.28	24.98	40	1396
West Indies	25/ 30/ 29*	0.83	35.29	32.89	32.44	94	1323
Pakistan	14/ 23/ 48	0.60	27.06	29.99	34.73	66	1130
South Africa	15/ 46/ 24	0.32	54.12	23.58	31.80	38	1201
Sri Lanka	12/ 37/ 36	0.32	43.53	28.89	37.33	61	1099
India	8/ 34/ 43	0.23	40.00	27.93	37.42	59	1086
Zimbabwe	9/ 50/ 26	0.18	58.82	26.77	39.03	45	1064
New Zealand	5/ 42/ 38	0.12	49.41	23.28	37.75	32	1001
Bangladesh	4/ 70/ 11	0.06	82.35	23.43	50.65	35	900

* West Indies' 85th Test was a tie, at the Gabba against Australia.

After having played 85 Tests, Bangladesh have only one batsman who has gone past 3000 runs - Habibul Bashar - and another who has more than 2500, Mohammad Ashraful. Neither of them average more than 31. Given that Bangladesh have played most of their Tests in the 2000s, a period which was pretty good for batting, these numbers are pretty disappointing. England and Australia had pretty low batting averages in their first 85 Tests, but that was a period of uncovered pitches when run-making was generally tougher.

During the same stage in their Test career, West Indies had four batsmen with 3000-plus runs, with all of them averaging more than 50 - Garry Sobers and the three Ws. Plus, they also had George Headley, who averaged 60.83 from 22 Tests. Among them, these five batsmen had scored 59 hundreds in 316 innings; Bangladesh's batsmen have scored 35 hundreds in 1790 innings.

West Indies were incredibly lucky to have so many top-notch batsmen in the same era, but other teams too had players who firmly stamped their class: Pakistan had Hanif and Mushtaq Mohammad, plus Majid Khan and Saeed Ahmed; India had Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar and Vijay Hazare; while Sri Lanka had Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Roy Dias. Even New Zealand had unearthed batsmen of the quality of Bert Sutcliffe, who averaged 40.10 in 42 Tests, and John Reid. Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur have all shown plenty of promise, but Bangladesh still have no batsman with 1000-plus Test runs at a 40-plus average. The best bet to achieve that landmark is Mominul Haque, who already has eight 50-plus scores in 17 innings, and averages 62.64 with an aggregate of 877 runs. In fact, Haque has already scored as many centuries in nine Tests as Bashar did in 50.

As a bowling unit Bangladesh have had huge problems in bowling teams out reasonably cheaply, and the biggest problem has been their pace attack - they've conceded almost 58 runs per wicket, which is way more than the average for any other pace attack; even India, with their mostly part-time, medium-pace attack, did better. Bangladesh's spinners have conceded 47.15 runs per wicket, which, while not exactly a top-class average, is still better than what the seamers have managed.

Among Bangladesh's to five wicket-takers in Tests, three are left-arm spinners, and they've clearly been the team's strongest bowling suit. Shakib is the one bowler with world-class stats, taking 122 wickets at an average of less than 34. Add that to a batting average of almost 38, and it's clear that he is the one world-class player in the Bangladesh team, who can push for a place in any Test side. Mashrafe Mortaza has struggled with injuries and has often been in and out of the team, while the fact that Shahadat Hossain managed to play 35 Tests despite conceding more than 50 runs per wicket indicates how thin Bangladesh's fast-bowling resources have been.

Splitting Bangladesh's 85 Tests into three periods, it's clear that they've done much better in the last third of their Test career so far: in the 28 Tests, they've won three, and have averaged almost 30 runs with the bat, which is much better than the averages in the previous two periods. The bowling average hasn't improved much, but the contributions of Shakib, Mushfiqur, Tamim and lately, Mominul, have clearly helped Bangladesh's cause with the bat. For the results to improve further and for them to be more competitive, though, the bowling average will have to improve considerably, particularly the wicket-taking abilities of their fast bowlers.