Have Zimbabwe and Bangladesh come of age?

Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have traded places in the cricketing hierarchy over the last decade

This is clearly the best time for the Bangladesh Cricket Team. After enjoying a decent run in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 where they managed to reach the quarter-finals before losing to India, they have now registered a series win each against their Asian counterparts India and Pakistan. Their batsmen are scoring runs, bowlers are picking up wickets, fielding is at all time best and they have moved up to 7th position in ICC ODI rankings. The dream run for a nation considered to be on the fringes of top-level cricket.

On the other hand, there is another cricketing nation which had almost similar kind of fixtures but unlike Bangladesh ended up on the losing side in most of them. If you haven't guessed it yet let me tell you I am talking about Zimbabwe. The Reds had a poor World Cup where they could manage to win only one out of their six matches and then lost to Pakistan 2-0 in the ODI series in Pakistan. To make things worse, their only consistent scorer, Brendan Taylor announced his retirement from international cricket.

For any neutral cricket fan following Bangladesh and Zimbabwe play has been like watching a three-hour long movie which keeps going off track and in the end bores its audience. In the last 15 years or so there have been moments when it looked like these teams were ready to take off, but when it came to making the jump – they would turn out to be over dependent on certain individuals.

The reversal of fortune

In the late 90s and early 2000s, what is known to be the 'golden era' in Zimbabwean cricket, they produced some highly skilled players like Heath Streak, Alastair Campbell, Sean Ervine, Murray Goodwin and the Flower brothers: Andy and Grant. This team with its never-give-up attitude went on to register some big wins against big sides while Bangladesh struggled to find feet at the big stage.

In Andy Flower and Heath Streak Zimbabwe had two world class players who would have made it to any playing 11 in the world, and the former was even hailed as a player '10 years ahead of his times' by the great Sachin Tendulkar. Everything was going in the right direction for them.

Come the 2003 World Cup, and everything changed. Andy Flower, along with his teammate Henry Olonga wore a black band against what they called 'end of democracy' in their country. The team managed to reach the super 6 round, but 13 players along with the then captain Heath Streak went on strike.

The board announced a relatively new looking inexperienced side for the tour of Sri Lanka and appointed a 20-year-old young yet highly skilled Tatenda Taibu as their leader, thus making him the youngest captain in the history of international cricket. Zimbabwe lost the series 5-0, registering a total of 35 in the 3rd ODI – which still remains the lowest total in ODI cricket. Since then cricket has never been the same for them.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, announced their arrival on the international stage by beating Australia in 2005 courtesy of heroics by Mohammad Ashraful, making him the youngest player to score a century in international cricket – at the age of 17. They continued their good form in the 2007 World Cup, beating India and South Africa. During this time, Bangladesh cricket saw the arrival of some highly talented youngsters like Shakib Al Hassan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe continued to struggle by winning a game or two here and there; but by the time 2011 World Cup arrived the difference between the two sides was clearly visible. Since then cricket has moved in different directions in the two countries. Bangladesh has gradually become a more consistent team continuously challenging bigger countries while Zimbabwe has struggled even against the weaker sides.

What the future looks like

This difference was seen during Zimbabwe's tour of Bangladesh in 2014 where they failed to win a single match in any of the formats. They produced talents like Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, and Elton Chigumbura, but there was no one in the team to guide them. One can only imagine what these players would have done had they played under the guidance and leadership of players like Flower and Streak. However, the damage has been done and the future doesn't look easy either. They have a tough series lined up against India with a T20 World Cup to follow. If things stand the way they are, they might even end up losing their Test status to sides like Ireland or Afghanistan.

Bangladesh meanwhile have a good core in Shakib, Mashrafe Mortaza and Mushfiqur Rahim who are constantly supported by the whole team. The emergence of young talents like Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman and Arafat Sunny provide more reasons for Bangladeshi fans to be hopeful for a bright future.

Although they are still to replicate their limited overs performances in the longer format and there is another tough series against South Africa coming up, one could only hope that things will get better from here. It seems like the two teams have swapped their positions in the last one decade. While cricket in Zimbabwe is at all time low, Bangladesh can no more be taken lightly.