No team has ever had a year like the Bangladesh Men in 2026. In Test cricket, they clean-swept Pakistan, and won their first ever Test in Australia (and drew the series). In ODIs, they won a bilateral series against New Zealand after 12 years, against Pakistan after 11, and against Australia for the first time in history. In fact, they had not won an ODI against Australia since that day in 2005.

But. But.. But…

Bangladesh have also lost a Test at home against the West Indies. They failed to win a Test against Afghanistan that they should have won. They lost by an innings and 85 runs to Zimbabwe, the largest ever margin of victory for the latter. They lost the ODIs in Zimbabwe as well, and lost both league matches in the ODI tri-series that also featured Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. And they failed to win a medal at cricket for the first time at the Asian Games.

What on earth is going on? Well, it makes some sense if you take each format separately.

A problem as old as the format

First things first. When it comes to the shortest format, the fact is that Bangladesh have never been among the best T20I sides in the world, something that can be attributed to a lack of power-hitters. In all of Bangladesh history, no one with at least 500 T20I runs has a strike rate of 130 or above. Of the 12 Full Members, their historical run rate (7.52) is the worst.

In 2026, Bangladesh (7.72) are the only team to have scored at under eight an over. Nothing short of a shift in approach towards batting in the format is likely to address that.

A quiet rise in ODIs

To be fair, a similar problem has existed in ODIs. There, no Bangladeshi has achieved the rather modest treble of 1,000 runs, an average of 35, and a strike rate of 85. That should have put them at a similar disadvantage as T20Is, but Bangladesh’s fast bowlers have been the heroes in a format that offers greater balance between bat and ball.

How good have the Bangladeshi fast bowlers been in ODIs this year? Despite the debacles against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, their seamers have been significantly superior to their counterparts for any other Full Member – in both average and economy. As the graph below suggests, no other team has been in the same league.

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What about the spinners, traditionally Bangladesh’s core strength? Their average of 41.37 is the fourth-worst among Full Members, but their economy of 4.77 has been their second-best (after New Zealand). As the fast bowlers went flat out in search of wickets – Bangladesh have gone on record demanding home surfaces that assist them – the spinners did their bit by ensuring the opposition batters did not get easy runs.

In contrast, Bangladesh’s ODI batting has not been great this year (average 26.24, strike rate 79), but that had more to do with the conditions the team management demanded for their home ODIs. Captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz made it amply clear that his fast bowlers gave them “more chances to win matches”. Thus, at home, Bangladesh swapped the dhaan-khet (literally a paddy field but colloquially a local term for rank turners) for greentops, went in seam-heavy, and beat three major teams.

But when the conditions did not assist seam, like in Zimbabwe or in the UAE, they won just one ODI and lost four. Given that the seamers should find the conditions in South Africa at next year’s World Cup more to their favour, these five games should not worry them too much.

What about Test cricket?

Finally, we come to Bangladesh’s peculiar year in Tests. From the highs of a clean sweep against Pakistan to the lows of a record defeat in Zimbabwe to a historic win in Australia to two ordinary games, this has been one rollercoaster ride. Including only WTC Tests in 2026, their win-loss ratio (1.5) is better than that of England (1.333), Australia (1), Pakistan (0.167), and Sri Lanka (no win).

While almost out of the race, Bangladesh still have a mathematical chance of qualifying for the final. A mid-table presence is significant improvement for a team that finished last in the first two cycles and seventh in the third.

So what makes their bowling attack so good? We have discussed the rise of Bangladesh’s pace attack at length in these pages. We have also discussed their role behind Bangladesh’s ODI success this year. What has gone under the radar is how balanced their bowling has been in Test cricket.

As the table below shows, Bangladesh’s spinners have had the best bowling average in the WTC in 2026. Their spinners have taken 7.6 wickets a Test, comfortably the best in the world if one ignores India’s two-Test sample size. At the same time, their seamers have been just as effective. They do not rank as high in the world, but as the graph below shows, the dip is not steep between the WTC pace attacks.

What to make of Bangladesh’s extremely unusual year?

Now that we have separated the formats, we can address them separately. We have discussed (and established) that Bangladesh’s T20I woes have to do with a lack of power-hitters. That has remained unaddressed in 2026, and things are not going to improve unless that changes. The world of T20I batting is moving at breakneck pace, and Bangladesh have not really caught up.

At the same time, their bowlers, especially the pacemen, have turned things around for them in the ODIs, even if the batting still remains an issue. As a team, they average under 25 runs per wicket this year. Yet, hedging on seam-friendly conditions at home has ensured that their excellent bowling attack restricts the opposition as well. In 2026, they eschewed short-term wins with an eye on next year’s World Cup in South Africa, where they are likely to face similar conditions. If all goes well, they will enter that tournament as one of the dark horses.

But the most significant step up has been in Test cricket. In the WTC Tests, their fast bowlers have shared 8.8 a game, their best in any calendar year. With a two-Test cut-off, their WTC average (27.22) and strike rate (42) have also been the best. The history of the greatest Test teams has been the history of successful pace attacks. For Bangladesh, 2026 has been an early step towards that direction.

A decade down the line, when the cricket fraternity looks back at Bangladesh’s unusual 2026, it will be perceived as progress. It was a year they spent ignoring one-off defeat while bolstering their pace attack: that approach will leverage them as a Test team while boosting their chances at the World Cup.