2021 has been an eventful year for the cricket world. There have been remarkable moments across all the formats. For Bangladesh, the year has been eventful as well, awful to be specific.
Bangladesh started the year with a clean sweep against the West Indies at home in the 3-match ODI series. Shakib al Hasan made a comeback in the very first match with a bowling figure of 4/8, being rewarded the player of the match.
The other mentionable performances of the series for Bangladeshi players were 4/25 by Mehidy Hasan in the 2nd ODI and a 55-ball 64 by Mushfiqur Rahim in the 3rd ODI.
But the joy among the fans couldn’t last long, as Bangladesh were convincingly defeated by a comparatively young West Indies Test side by a 2-0 margin the next month. In the 1st match, the debutant, Kyle Mayers' 210* took the game away from the hosts, even after Mominul's 115 and Mehidy's 103.
In March, Bangladesh visited New Zealand for an ODI and a T20 series, but only to continue their win-drought in the country over the years.
Having put on a total of 271/6 batting first, Bangladesh had the best chance to win a match in the 2nd ODI. In the 2nd innings, when Bangladesh just began to hold the grip, they totally lost the momentum when Mushfiqur Rahim dropped Jimmy Neesham who scored 30.
After Tom Latham's 110, who was also given a life, New Zealand's way towards another victory became easy. The 3-match T20I series was a clean sweep as well and Bangladesh getting all out scoring 76 in the 3rd T20I, which was reduced to just 10 overs due to rain made it even worse.
Then Bangladesh visited Sri Lanka for 2 tests. Having batted on a batting paradise, Bangladesh put on 541/7 on the board.
The scores of Tamim Iqbal, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim were 90, 163, 127 and 68 respectively.
Dimuth Karunaratne was equal to the task and his 244 took Sri Lanka to 648/8. The match was drawn.
The next match was a 'Jayawickrama show.' The young Sri Lankan left-arm spinner picked up 6/92 and 5/86 in both innings, ensuring a convincing win over the visitors at Kandy.
In May, Bangladesh hosted the same opponent and won an ODI series by 2-1, thanks to Mushfiqur Rahim's 84(82) and 125(127) in the first two matches.
Bangladesh then toured Zimbabwe for 3 T20Is, 1 Test and 3 ODIs. Soumya Sarkar starred in the T20 series having scored 2 half-centuries. He was awarded the Player of the Tournament as Bangladesh won it 2-1.
The only Test marked the final Test for Mahmudullah and he made it perfectly memorable scoring 150*, leading his team to victory and being rewarded the Player of the Match. The ODI series was a typical clean sweep for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe.
Before the T20 World Cup, Bangladesh hosted Australia and New Zealand for two 5-match T20 series. Both were won by the hosts 4-1 and 3-2 respectively, as the typical Mirpur pitch offered some low-scoring matches.
Afif Hossain, Nasum Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan performed well on a number of occasions. Among the experienced players, Shakib and on a few occasions, Mahmudullah performed, but the failure of the top order to score runs in the powerplay was clear throughout these 10 matches.
The T20 World Cup started with a defeat for Bangladesh against Scotland, thanks to Chris Greaves' quick 45.
However, they managed to pull themselves back in the next 2 matches of Round 1 against Oman and Papua New Guinea, as Shakib Al Hasan was awarded the Player of the Match on both occasions.
The rest of the journey in the Super-12 round was a disappointing story in the end. Bangladesh lost all 5 of their matches against Sri Lanka, England, West Indies, South Africa and Australia respectively.
They came close to winning against Sri Lanka and West Indies, but failing to score with a good run rate in the powerplays, and poor death-over bowling by the likes of Mustafizur proved to be costly, not to mention drop catches by Liton.
Getting all out to South Africa and Australia for 84 and 73 respectively were just the final nails on the coffin.
It has been downhill for Bangladesh since then, as they lost a 3-match T20I series to Pakistan in their own backyard in November. The top-order failure was noticeable in the Test series as well.
Pakistan won the 1st Test by 8 wickets. Almost half of the second test was washed away by rain, but that, plus Shakib's 63-run match-saving effort, couldn’t save Bangladesh from a defeat by an innings.
Bangladesh's 2021 in a nutshell:
ODIs played: 12
ODIs won: 8 (Highest in 2021)
ODIs lost: 4
Tests played: 7
Tests won/drawn: 1/1
Tests lost: 5
T20Is played: 27
T20Is won: 11
T20Is lost: 16
Most runs (for Bangladesh in 2021):
Tests: Liton Das (594)
ODIs: Tamim Iqbal (464)
T20Is: Mohammad Naim (575)
Most wickets (for Bangladesh in 2021):
Tests: Taijul Islam (30)
ODIs: Mustafizur Rahman (18)
T20Is: Mustafizur Rahman (28)
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