Let me start off by saying my opinion on whether Bangladesh should be playing test cricket doesn't count. The ICC has made the decision for whatever reason and that's that.
But it's getting tiresome to read about Bangladeshi players trying to prove a point to those who think they don't deserve to be playing test cricket. A few months ago unnamed media personnel took pleasure in Bangladesh getting the better of India for one day of a test match after Virender Sehwag had called them ordinary and that they couldn't beat India because they can't take 20 wickets - Bangladesh have taken 20 wickets in only 4 of their 67 tests. The match predictably ended in a comfortable win for India with Bangladesh vindicating Sehwag by not being able to dismiss his side twice. Ofcourse the narrative after the game was that of the Bangladeshi side running India close.
Bangladesh have now played 67 tests, a reasonably big number to take stock of where they stand. I looked at how they compare to the 9 other test playing nations over their respective 67 tests from the time they started playing test cricket.
Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win% | W/L Ratio | Bat Avg | Bowl Avg | Avg Diff |
England | 67 | 35 | 22 | 10 | 52.24 | 1.591 | 24.4 | 20.77 | 3.63 |
Australia | 67 | 26 | 28 | 13 | 38.81 | 0.929 | 22.51 | 24.26 | -1.75 |
RSA | 67 | 12 | 37 | 18 | 17.91 | 0.324 | 23.12 | 30.7 | -7.58 |
WI | 67 | 18 | 26 | 23 | 26.87 | 0.692 | 31.15 | 33.2 | -2.05 |
NZ | 67 | 3 | 32 | 32 | 4.48 | 0.094 | 22.67 | 37.77 | -15.1 |
India | 67 | 6 | 29 | 32 | 8.96 | 0.207 | 26.7 | 37.23 | -10.53 |
Pakistan | 67 | 11 | 21 | 35 | 16.42 | 0.524 | 28.19 | 33.97 | -5.78 |
SL | 67 | 8 | 31 | 28 | 11.94 | 0.258 | 27.22 | 39.15 | -11.93 |
Zimbabwe | 67 | 7 | 37 | 23 | 10.45 | 0.189 | 27.16 | 37.9 | -10.74 |
Bangladesh | 67 | 3 | 58 | 6 | 4.48 | 0.052 | 21.75 | 50.29 | -28.54 |
It doesn't matter what category you look at, Bangladesh are dead last. New Zealand match them in terms of their Win % over their first 67 tests but have a much better Win-Loss ratio as well as a much lower difference between their batting and bowling average. It's not even that teams that started playing test cricket later have necessarily inferior records. West Indies started playing almost 30 years after South Africa but have a considerably better record. Pakistan started playing test cricket in the early fifties and they have a better record than New Zealand and India, and pretty much at par with South Africa. It's interesting to note that even Zimbabwe started off just as well as India.
It's about time Shakib and his teammates realised they need to stop behaving like they're entitled to something just because they have test status and start winning some tests, or atleast drawing them. They need to realise the odd good performance by one of their players isn't going to get them there and it's the whole team that needs to put in a more disciplined and consistent effort if they want to be respected by the cricketing community.
