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Over the past five years, Bangladesh have not won a Test against any side other than Zimbabwe. Yet they shape as challenging foes for Australia in the two-Test series starting in just six weeks’ time.
Fresh from a bracing Ashes defeat, Australia look set to field one of its most inexperienced Test teams of the modern era.
In succumbing to an aggressive but flawed England Australia have had weaknesses exposed – many which had been obscured by an 18-month period of heady success.
From the start of the 2013-14 summer to the beginning of this Ashes series, Australia had a brilliant win-loss record of 11-3. Two of those three losses though were on just the kind of dry, flat pitches they look likely to encounter in Bangladesh.
In the UAE late last year, the decks were so unresponsive that Australia’s two-Test series against Pakistan should have been a boring, high-scoring draw. Pakistan showed how remarkably easy it was to bat on those pitches if you played with the correct technique against spin. Their innings seemed to stretch for weeks as the Australian bowlers could find no way to trouble them.
Australia’s stints at the crease were comparatively minuscule, the result of awful batting against spin.
The visitors’ technique against the seaming ball was brutally exposed during this Ashes, and the turning ball has been arguably an even bigger problem for them in the past.
The Bangladesh pitches don’t tend to be sharp turners, like those India produced when Australia toured in 2013. But, like the UAE pitches, accurate spinners can still run amok against ill-prepared batsmen thanks to the natural variation they earn.
Two deliveries, bowled at the same speed and trajectory and with the same amount of revolutions, can react in significantly different ways once they land on the pitch.
Some will skid straight on, others will grip and turn appreciably. In the UAE, the Pakistan batsmen expertly countered this by either getting to the pitch or the ball, or moving back deep in their crease to allow themselves time to react to the bounce.
Meanwhile, the Aussies were perpetually stuck on the crease, edging those deliveries which turned and being bowled or caught in front by those which didn’t.
Across those two Tests, rookie tweaker Zulfiqar Babar snared 14 wickets. There was nothing remarkable about his bowling – no extravagant dip, befuddling drift or savage turn. He simply was accurate and utilised subtle variations in pace and release point.
In this manner he very closely resembled the man who shapes as the biggest threat to the Australians in Bangladesh – star spinning all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan.
Shakib’s left arm offerings are, like Zulfiqar’s, unremarkable in anything other than their accuracy and craftiness. He will test whether Australia’s batsmen took heed of the lessons offered by the Pakistanis.
Bangladesh’s key player had not even made his Test debut the last time Australia faced his nation in a Test, more than nine years ago in Chittagong. Back then Australia were a juggernaut and Bangladesh were a joke.
They were so inept that they lost that match to Australia by an innings and 80 runs with the visitors losing only four wickets for the match. Promoted Australian tail-ender Jason Gillespie batted for almost 10 hours in making 201*.
Circumstances will be far different this time around. Australia won’t boast champion players Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Stuart MacGill and Gillespie.
They’ll be fielding a wounded line-up littered with Test rookies. It seems likely that seven of Australia’s XI will have played less than 20 Tests.
Bangladesh, too, are a much different side than they were in 2006. Years of being exposed to solid international opponents has helped their cricket develop appreciably.
Despite their poor win-loss record, they have become a competitive side at home. Their most recent series against South Africa ended in a 0-0 draw due to the impact of poor weather on both Tests.
The first match ended with Bangladesh the only side to have batted, finishing at 8-246 at Mirpur. In the second match in Chittagong they highlighted the extent to which they have improved by earning a 78-run first innings lead.
In the third innings, South Africa were 0-61 when the weather ended the match and would have been strong favourites to win.
But it remained an impressive effort against the Proteas who are not only easily the best team in Test cricket, but are also brilliant overseas, in stark contrast to every other side in recent years.
With a solid spin battery, improving quicks and a reasonably deep batting line-up, Bangladesh are no easy foes for Australia in Asian conditions.
But surely, surely, the Australians could not join Zimbabwe as their only vanquished Test opponents since 2010.