On the basis of this tour, as a BD fan, I respectfully disagree for the following reasons.:brmtaylor.com admin wrote:
Thank God we beat Pakistan last year. It's the only thing that makes me think Zimbabwe is still a better team than Bangladesh.
1) pitch conditions. Pitches are a little more bowling friendly in ZIM than BD. If we played on raging turners against NZ/WI/SA/AUS we might win a test out of 10 or 20. A minefield closes the gap between a stronger team and a weak one (BD/ZIM). ZIM's conditions have been used very well to maximize results - PAK/BD have played 6 tests all at HSC. NZ played in Bulawayo and nearly lost. SA played at HSC on a wicket resembling Colombo's RPS. That's 8 matches perfectly curated...can't be coincidence.
The current BD spin corps seem to bee good enough to put teams like NZ or WI in a bind on turners, maybe SA/AUS too based on how Nyumbu, Babar, and Yasir went against them recently. A bowler only needs 20 good balls...A batsman can't afford to make one fatal mistake.
However the BCB strategy has been to make absolute belters and try and draw against top sides. Both ZIM and BD's strategies have worked. Zim has won against Pak, BD has drawn against SL and NZ (twice).
2) if ZIM were better than BD, they'd have beaten us at least at home. Although we lost 2-1, we haven't lost any series against Zim since the Rebels left in 2004. In Dhaka, the pitch was a neutral one...spin for us, bounce and seam for you, and though it was close, we won.
3) Pakistan are also the most whimsical of the top sides, so is WI except the WI never win. Still a win is a win since we've never beaten Pak.
4) Its obvious that BD have the stronger batting lineup compared Zim 2011 onwards, home and away. But Zim have the stronger bowling lineup. But a large part of that is due to the flat wickets we bowl on, which Zim is now getting a taste of.
5) I think most neutrals rated us higher even after the Pak win and our slump this year.
6) ICC rankings!!
That being said, its perfectly valid to still feel ZIM are better...before this series I admitted Zim were objectively better than Be,but I still "felt" we were better. Zim will get a chance to right the record in Jan 2016!
At any rate, great start for us. Really Mominul gets a ton and from there I'll take whatever we get. Would like to see 550+ which I think we should get. Interestingly in Zim's return against us in 2011, you were 304-2 and finished at 370. Saw the high!nights of that before this series started...hope we don't collapse like that!
given how big our population is and the money our board has. That said, I'm cautiously optimistic about our prospects over the next decade with the current lineup we have and some up and coming youngsters as well.
Panyangara strikes!