For Bangladesh, it promised to be a year of achieving goals and emerging stronger as a nation in international cricket. Instead, 2014 turned out to be the most important chapter a year can possibly teach. Big names, big games and big events scheduled in the country elevated the expectations to a sky-high level. However, the expectations descended gradually over the first 10 months in the face of countless defeats before the Tigers clawed back their confidence with a mesmerising clean sweep over Zimbabwe.
Apart from holding two major events, Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20, Bangladesh also hosted Asian powerhouses Sri Lanka and India and archrival Zimbabwe. The Tigers, coming to the Sri Lanka series on the back of a whitewash over New Zealand on December 2013, remained winless in their home series comprising two Tests, two T20Is and three ODIs against the island nation.
However, the series taking place was in itself a relief for the cricket board and the nation as political unrest in the country threatened to snatch away the mega multinational events. Bangladesh Cricket Board convinced Sri Lanka to arrive for the month-long bilateral series that eventually paved the way for other teams to play in Bangladesh.
The results of the Sri Lanka series though could have easily been the other way round as the Tigers suffered some close and heartbreaking defeats.
The cracks in the wall widened through the Asia Cup where Bangladesh lost all their matches, despite going agonisingly close every time, including one against ICC Associate Member Afghanistan.
Mushfiqur Rahim and his troop had only six days to recover from the nightmare and it was not enough. Pitted in Group A of the WT20 qualifiers, Bangladesh progressed to the main round albeit with a hiccup - a defeat to another ICC Associate Member Hong Kong. In the main round, Bangladesh, as expected, slumped to defeats to India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Australia to bow out of the event.
The Tigers lost two-nil in the three-match ODI series against an untested Indian side led by Suresh Raina before they flew to the Caribbean islands for a month-long tour. The outing was the Tigers’ only away bilateral series in this year. The tour of the West Indies produced another bitter experience as Bangladesh lost all the matches in the Test and ODI series while the only T20I was washed out.
Meanwhile, bad luck seemed to have followed the team to the Asian Games where defending gold-medalist Bangladesh fell prey to nature. After beating Kuwait in the quarters by 203 runs, rain washed away their last-four match against Sri Lanka which was eventually decided by a coin toss. Losing the toss, led by Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the Tigers had to remain content beating Hong Kong by 27 runs to hold on to the bronze.
As expected, the defeats pulled out many controversial points and raised questions regarding the commitment of the national players. The BCB also relieved Mushfiq of his duties from one-day internationals and handed Mashrafe his second stint.
The cricketers worked hard, bonded under the guidance of Chandika Hathurusingha – the former Sri Lankan cricketer who took charge as the head coach in June after Shane Jurgensen quit on the back of poor results – and turned the tables around by staging a combined team-effort which was missing earlier.
The supporters regained their confidence when the Bangladesh squad whitewashed Zimbabwe in the three-Test and five-ODI series on November-December.
To sum it all up, the cricketers learned how to regroup, work as a unit and put everything aside in order to bounce back when their backs were pushed hardly against the wall. 2015 should be the year where the Tigers put their bitter lessons of 2014 behind them.
