Bangladesh deserves its test status in cricket

FOR the record, I had opposed ICC's awarding Bangladesh test status in 2000 in these columns. I had agreed with coach Gordon Greenidge that Bangladesh was not test-worthy, and added that it would remain the doormat of test cricket for the next twenty years. I was partially right. I was also partially wrong.
The recent ominous cloud hanging over Bangladesh's future as a test playing nation has dissipated, and the nation's test status has been reaffirmed for now. This is a wise decision, and welcome news. The climb up the totem pole of test cricket requires time. It would have been unrealistic to expect Bangladesh to contend with Australia from day one. Fortunately, Bangladesh continues to improve, and a compelling case can now be made why Bangladesh should remain a test playing nation for the foreseeable future.
Historically, Bangladesh has been a football nation. Unlike India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, cricket was a minor sport in Bangladesh, playable for only a few months annually due to the rain-soaked grounds. Thanks to its test status, things are now changing. Cricket is fast becoming Bangladesh's major sport. I have travelled to remote villages and noticed that the kids are now playing cricket, not football. It will take a generation for the results of such dedication to manifest.
When Bangladesh started playing test cricket, it lost nearly all the matches (except to Zimbabwe). Thus far, it has won only one series at home (1-0 against Zimbabwe in 2005), and one against a depleted West Indies away (2-0, in 2009). But, these days Bangladesh draws more and more tests. That is improvement.
Bangladesh has had its chances against top teams. In the Fatullah test against Australia in 2006, Bangladesh scored 427 runs in the first innings -- 158 more than Australia's 269.  Bangladesh collapsed to a paltry 148 in the second innings, setting Australia a target of 306. Australia barely won with only three wickets to spare. As Shane Warne alluded to later, Bangladesh lost its nerve at the prospect of beating formidable Australia.
Confidence and improvement come from playing often, and against better opposition.  ICC in its infinite wisdom has decreed that Bangladesh would play fewest tests every year, and against weaker opposition only. It is hard to fathom how that is a prescription for improvement.
The format of cricket Bangladesh plays most is the ODIs, where its record is not too shabby. Bangladesh has defeated every test nation in the ODIs. Bangladesh knocked out India, featuring Tendulkar in his prime, from the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007.
Bangladesh has beaten New Zealand in seven straight ODIs in Bangladesh -- 4-0 in 2010, and 3-0 in 2013. It also drew both the test matches against New Zealand in 2013, and beats West Indies regularly in ODIs. All this cannot be a fluke. Logic dictates that if Bangladesh plays more tests, its performance will approach that in the ODIs.
India is 22 times larger than Bangladesh, yet, after gaining test status in 1932, for the first 50 years India remained one of the weakest sides in test cricket, winning only 35 tests out of 196; a 17.85% winning clip. To this day, India has a losing record against Australia (24 wins, 38 losses), England (20 wins, 40 losses), Pakistan (9 wins, 12 losses), South Africa (7 wins, 12 losses) and the West Indies (16 wins, 30 losses). India has lost twice to Zimbabwe in 11 contests.
Indian batsmen were so shaky against fast bowling that its captain and opening batsman, Nari Contractor, was nearly killed when hit by a ball from speedster Charlie Griffith in the West Indies in1962.  Up until 1970, forty years into its test status, India, too, used to play mostly for draws. It was the arrival of superstars like batsmen Sunil Gavaskar, all rounder pace man Kapil Dev and a host of spinners in the 1970s that catapulted India into a major contender.
Bangladesh is following roughly the same trail. Previously ranked number one, Shakib Al Hasan is currently ranked the number two all rounder in the world. No batsman in the world is more promising than 22-year old Mominul Haque, who has scored three centuries in seven test matches, and patiently guided Bangladesh to a draw against Sri Lanka last week. Against New Zealand last year, Sohag Gazi became the only cricketer in the history of test cricket to score a century and take a hat-trick in the same match.  
Along with Shakib, and India's Ashwin, Gazi became only the third player in ten years to score a century and take five wickets (he took six) in a test match. Against West Indies in 2012, Abul Hasan became the first number 10 batsman in the history of test cricket to score a hundred on his debut. Clearly, Bangladesh is bursting at the seams with budding superstars. It is up to ICC to nurture them.
Sure, Bangladesh needs to improve its cricket infrastructure. It has to generate a more competitive domestic league. Bangladeshi batsmen must learn to consolidate their advantage, and not to throw their wickets away after reaching a fifty, hundred or hundred and fifty; instead have the patience to score higher. Bangladesh also needs to develop fast bowlers. To those who snicker that Bengalis cannot bowl fast, let me mention India's new fast bowling sensation, Mohammed Shami.  The last time I checked, he is a West Bengali!
Some top cricket nations find it beneath their dignity to play Bangladesh in test cricket.  Although India insisted on playing against Bangladesh in its first test match in 2000, and subsequently its batsmen fattened their run aggregates, and its bowlers embellished their wicket tallies by playing Bangladesh, India remains the only nation not to host Bangladesh for a test match.  
Bangladeshis are grateful to Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and South Africa for not treating it like a pariah, and for not harbouring qualms about playing it in test matches.
New prediction: If Bangladesh is allowed to play more than just a few test matches per year, there are plenty of reasons why in twenty years Bangladesh will be very competitive against the other three sub-continental teams -- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The writer is a Rhodes Scholar.