Did you know that the Bangladesh cricket team holds the unfortunate record of having lost 21 consecutive Test matches?
In sports, no team wants to lose. In red-ball cricket, players must be committed to the game, and teams cannot afford to lose consecutive matches. However, some of the teams lose far too many games at once due to a variety of factors working against them.
The Bangladesh cricket team has a record of 21 straight defeats in Test matches. The streak lasted from November 2001 to February 2004.
During this time, Khaled Mashud, the wicketkeeper-captain of Bangladesh, established an unfavourable record because his side lost all 12 games when he served as captain. As a captain, he has a 100% losing record.
Also Read | Top 10: Captains with Most Test Losses
Also, during this time, Bangladesh’s cricket team was defeated by every prominent Test side, including Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.
During the streak, Bangladesh came close to winning only once, when they played Pakistan in Multan in 2003. Bangladesh set a target of 261 for the hosts in the second innings, but Pakistan won by one wicket.
Bangladesh’s losing run was caused by many different things. One thing was that the team didn’t have much practice. Bangladesh didn’t start playing Tests until the year 2000, and many of the players on the team had never played before.
The team’s bad batting was another problem. When the top teams bowled, it was hard for Bangladesh’s batters to keep up, and they often failed in the batting department.
Bangladesh’s 21-game losing streak was a low point in the history of the country’s cricket. Since then, though, the team has come a long way and won a lot of Test matches.
Bangladesh even beat Australia for the first time in a Test match in 2019. The team is just starting out, and they are headed in the right direction.
Following is the list of teams that lost the most consecutive matches:
| Country | Tests Lost | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 21 | 15/11/2001 | 19/02/2004 |
| Zimbabwe | 11 | 27/12/2001 | 17/10/2003 |
| Zimbabwe | 10 | 09/08/2014 | 21/10/2017 |
| Bangladesh | 9 | 25/05/2007 | 17/10/2008 |
| South Africa | 8 | 12/3/1889 | 1/4/1899 |
