Don't call Bangladesh minnows any longer, but Australia remains their bogey team

In the lead up to the Bangladesh versus England match, which kicked off the Champions Trophy, many media reports referred to the idea of the Tigers defeating the hosts as an ‘upset’.

Most victories in Bangladesh’s history have prompted the use of this word, which is essentially a backhanded compliment. ‘Upset’ suggests that a team was fortunate to win – that they remain the lesser side despite their victory.

When Bangladesh played England it was sixth versus fifth in the ODI rankings, and Bangladesh were the team that knocked England out of the last World Cup, yet had Bangladesh repeated that performance this week, it undoubtedly would have been described by most media and most fans as a major boilover or an unexpected result. An upset.

Eventually, you would hope Bangladesh beating the higher-profile teams will just become known as a victory, not an upset. In the ODI format, at least, they have well and truly earned the right to banish the minnow status which follows them around like a pungent odour.

Bangladesh are now ranked above three of the traditional cricketing nations – Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies.

They deserve that ranking, too. Bangladesh have a fantastic 24-14 win-loss record across their past 40 ODIs. In that time they have recorded series wins against heavyweights South Africa and India, smashed Pakistan 3-0, drew with Sri Lanka, and of course notched that famous World Cup win over England.

Since 2015 Bangladesh have beaten every one of the top 12 ranked ODI teams – except, that is, for Australia. That is due to a lack of opportunity – their only ODI against Australia in that time was rained out at Brisbane during the World Cup.

In 18 completed ODIs against Australia, Bangladesh have triumphed just once. That was back in 2005 against a dominant Australian side containing the likes of Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke and Jason Gillespie. The five-wicket victory was the greatest moment in Bangladesh’s ODI history to that point.

Since then, however, Bangladesh have lost 12 matches on the trot against Australia, with seven of those losses by big margins. Despite the vast progress made by the Tigers, Australia remains their bogey side. Apparently playing Australia is the biggest moment for Bangladesh and their fans.

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(AAP Image/David Mariuz)

According to my Bangladeshi mate Rubayet – or ‘Chips’, as we call him – Australia are the Tigers’ ultimate cricketing rivals. I had guessed that it would be India. Not so, apparently.

“Playing India is massive, but playing Australia is the biggest deal for Bangladeshis,” Chips told me over a beer in Bangkok last month. “Because when Bangladesh were finding their way in international cricket in the 1990s Australia were easily the best team, they had all the legends.”

Australia remain an elite ODI side, but they don’t have the same fearsome aura they possessed in the 1990s and 2000s when they won three World Cups in a row. When Bangladesh defeated Australia in 2005, it really was an enormous shock and one of the biggest upsets in the history of one-day cricket.

Times have changed. While Australia justifiably enter today’s Champions Trophy match at The Oval as favourites, Bangladesh are a threat. In making 305 batting first against England on Thursday, the Tigers underscored the considerable ability contained in their top six.

Circumspect opener Tamim Iqbal, long the bedrock of the Bangladesh batting line-up, crafted a mature 128, while highly-gifted keeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim cracked 79 from 72 balls. That pair have good support in the form of aggressive opener Soumya Sarkar, who averages 40 with the bat from his 28 matches, and the world’s number-one ranked ODI all-rounder, Shakib al-Hasan.

Shakib is a reliable presence in the middle order, but it is with the ball Bangladesh most need him to excel today. The Tigers’ bowling was limp against England, with Shakib struggling badly as he collected figures of 0-62 from eight overs.

One of the top five ODI spinners in the world, left-armer Shakib has the ability to drastically change the face of a match in a matter of overs.

So too does pace prodigy Mustafizur Rahman, the left-armer who has made an extraordinary start to his limited overs international career, taking 70 wickets at an average of 16. Rahman doesn’t have the speed and bounce of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. His strength is deception, utilising changes of pace and clever cutters.

Shakib and Mustafizur will have able allies in right-arm seamers Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain. But it is the two left arm stars, with their match-winning abilities, who are the keys for Bangladesh today.

If they can rise to the occasion of playing Bangladesh’s bogey team, the Tigers may well be able to end the hoodoo.