Why is Bangladesh still considered a 'minnow'?

This is the intro of the Asia Cup preview published by the French news agency Agence France-Presse, better known as AFP.

In this preview, AFP went into great detail about how teams like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka can use the forthcoming Asia Cup as preparation for the ICC World Cup, which will commence in October in India.

AFP weighed in on the strengths and weaknesses of these three teams, the rivalries between them and which of their players will miss the tournament owing to injuries.

After the reporter was done talking about ‘Asia’s cricket giants’, he spared a few words for the remaining competing teams – Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal.

Now, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are all former World Cup winners and have won the Asia Cup multiple times. So in that sense, giving them more importance in the preview makes sense.

But for cricket fans from the Bay of Bengal, the omission of Bangladesh from the intro and the lack of attention shown to them by a non-partisan news agency only indicates one thing– that despite the strides made by Bangladesh in the 50-over format, most of the world still considers Bangladesh as a minnow.

In the early 2000s, cricket reporters, analysts and commentators liberally used the word ‘minnow’ to describe the Bangladesh cricket team.

The fact that Bangladesh was a weak team, which was nowhere near the level of the top sides, was not unknown to anyone in cricket. Still, the word ‘minnow’ was used almost as a prefix to Bangladesh to make sure that everyone always remembered how bad the Tigers were.

After several victories over stronger teams and notably kicking out tournament favourites India out of the 2007 World Cup, the use of ‘minnow’ to describe Bangladesh drastically reduced.

But even though that particular word wasn’t used as often, the belief that Bangladesh remains a minnow never really went away.

A lot has happened since then. Bangladesh have won Test matches against New Zealand, Australia and England, reached the quarterfinal of the World Cup, made it to the semifinal of the Champions Trophy, played the final of the Asia Cup three times, won ODI series against India, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, just to name a few.

Still, Bangladesh remains a ‘minnow’ in the eyes of many. They may refrain from using the word, but their actions prove that the belief is still there.

Bangladesh have never won the Asia Cup.

The tournament, which is about to begin its 16th edition on 30 August, has historically been dominated by two teams, India and Sri Lanka.

India have won the competition a record seven times while defending champions Sri Lanka have reigned supreme six times. The remaining two editions were won by Pakistan.

This stat makes it seem like Bangladesh have only been making up the numbers in the tournament and have never posed a threat to winning the tournament.

But that’s not true.

In the last five editions of the Asia Cup, Bangladesh have made it to the final thrice. The Tigers have played a couple of finals against India in 2016 and 2018 and one against Pakistan in 2012. But have come up short on all three occasions.

When one thinks of the Bangladesh ODI team now, the things that come to mind are the retirement-unretirement drama of Tamim Iqbal, his sudden resignation from the captaincy post and the return of Shakib Al Hasan as ODI skipper.

This period of chaos, which lasted for around a month, has overshadowed the consistent performances of the Tigers in the ODI format in the buildup to the 2023 World Cup.

In the 2021-23 cycle of the ICC ODI Super League, the qualifying competition for the ICC World Cup 2023, Bangladesh emerged as the best team in Asia.

The Tigers finished third in the 13-team competition, behind first and second-placed New Zealand and England respectively.

Bangladesh actually were on level with England in terms of points, with both teams finishing with 15 wins in 24 matches. But the current World Cup winners edged Bangladesh with a better net run rate.

India and Pakistan finished sixth and seventh in the Super League while Sri Lanka finished 10th and had to compete in the qualifier tournament to book a seat in the main competition.

Interestingly, Afghanistan also did better than India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super League, finishing in the fifth spot.

Still, Bangladesh and Afghanistan remain an afterthought in the World Cup as well as in the Asia Cup.

Bangladesh is way behind in head-to-head competition against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in ODIs. But that’s mostly owing to the defeats the Tigers conceded early on in their journey as a Test nation.

When one looks at the more recent record, the stats look much more even.

Bangladesh won their last bilateral ODI series against India and Sri Lanka by the same margin, 2-1. The last five times the Tigers have faced Pakistan in the 50-over format, they have come out on top four times.

But these recent records get overlooked by most because none of those victories resulted in Bangladesh winning a big tournament.

Despite the high standing in the ODI Super League, away series wins over the West Indies and South Africa, home series wins over Sri Lanka, India and playing three finals in the last five editions of the Asia Cup, Bangladesh are still not seriously considered as a title contender in the Asia Cup, let alone the World Cup.

So, what does Bangladesh have to do to be taken seriously?

Simple, win the Asia Cup.

If on 17 September, after the final in Colombo, it’s the Bangladesh team rejoicing on the stage with captain Shakib holding the Asia Cup trophy up in the air, only then the world will take notice of the Tigers and then, maybe, AFP and other such news agencies will consider putting Bangladesh’s name in the same bracket as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.