Bangladesh have the talent, but fail to live upto it nine times out of 10. They have an occasional moment of brilliance like a flash in the pan. Twelve defeats in 12 ODIs. That summed up 2014 for Bangladesh. They had to wait for Zimbabwe to win their first ODI of the year. The 5-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe however did little to assuage the skeptics who began predicting that the team was headed towards irrelevance especially after their loss to Afghanistan in the Asia Cup.


Shakib Al Hasan. Pic/AFP 

Today, they step out against Afghanistan to begin their World Cup campaign, winning only eight out of their 26 games since their debut in 1999. Apart from playing occasional party poopers, they have never quite turned up on the big stage despite sufficient opportunities against the bigger sides.