he Bangladesh pace revolution is real … but in ODIs
Make no mistake. Starting with the South Africa tour of 2022, Bangladesh have evolved into one of the strongest pace attacks in ODI cricket. Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed, both in their early thirties, are now supported by Nahid Rana, only 23 and the quickest bowler in their history. The next-best in the country – Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib – are all young.
We have already discussed all of that in these pages. Since several of them play Test cricket as well, it is only logical to think that Bangladesh boast of a very strong pace attack as well. The famous triumphs in Mount Maunganui and Kingston, the Test wins against Pakistan – they all point towards that.
There is some truth in that. Bangladesh has historically not produced world-class Test fast bowlers. No Bangladeshi seamer has taken a hundred, or even eighty Test wickets. But, of the eight Bangladeshi fast bowlers with 35 Test wickets, four (Taskin, Ebadot Hossain, Nahid, Hasan) are contemporary, and are among the top five when ranked by average.
Things are indeed looking up, but perhaps not as much as perceived. If one puts the start of 2022 as the beginning of Bangladesh’s pace revolution, here are how the numbers stack up.