Bangladesh will certainly be looking to get back on the winning track on home soil when they take on Zimbabwe in a two-match Test series that starts at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on April 20.
The Tigers lost all of the last five matches that they have played at home to South Africa, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand, and the last time they won a Test at home was back in November 2023 against the Kiwis in Sylhet.
This has been the longest losing streak at home for Bangladesh since 2012, when they lost five matches on the trot.
What makes the latest losing run more interesting is that in between those losses at home, Bangladesh won a historic series over Pakistan 鈥� an opposition who they had never beaten before. They beat the West Indies in the Caribbean in that timeframe as well.
Bangladesh chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain also stated the fact that the recent performances at home were a concern for them.
In fact, that was one of the factors that prompted the selection panel to name almost a full-strength squad against a relatively weaker opponent.
鈥榃e have to consider one other thing: we didn鈥檛 do well against Sri Lanka last year. The result against South Africa wasn鈥檛 expected at all either,鈥� Ashraf said after the team was announced.
鈥榃e achieved the most memorable performance in Pakistan and won a Test in the West Indies. [But] we are concerned about our performances for the last year or so. That鈥檚 why we are trying to play with the best possible team against Zimbabwe,鈥� he added.
But the question is, what went wrong for Bangladesh in recent times at home? One simple answer to that question would be batting.
In the last five matches, Bangladesh failed to score even 200 in an innings on eight occasions. The two times when they crossed the 200-mark, they reached 300.
But both scores came while batting in their second innings, and in hindsight, the scores made no difference, as the matches were long gone from Bangladesh鈥檚 grasp.
One of the main concerns for Bangladesh in the batting would be the performance of the top order. In the last 10 innings, only one partnership from the top order, ie, between the first and second wicket, reached 50 runs or more.
The fact is, Bangladesh are yet to find a stable opening partnership since Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes.
Mahmudul Hasan, Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam have opened the batting in the time period. All of them are in the squad for the first Test.
Whoever opens the batting in the first Test will have a greater responsibility on their shoulders to bring a good start for the home team, who are going through an unusual losing streak on home soil.
