Naimul Karim

It's difficult to recall the last time Bangladesh entered a mega event without the 'underdog' tag. They did reach the final of the Asia Cup in 2012 and they also created history by making it to the quarterfinal of the World Cup in 2015.

What began with a slight hiccup ended with a bunch of youngsters from the Caribbean jazzing up the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium with their funky dance moves.

The Bangladesh under-19s yesterday made history by becoming the first cricket team from the nation to reach the semifinals of an ICC event when they beat Nepal in the ICC Under-19 World Cup quarterfinal. The Young Tigers beat Nepal by six wickets in a game that was more complicated than it looked on paper before the sides took the field in the pressure cauldron of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

A record 93 by Hamilton Masakadza helped Zimbabwe complete a brilliant comeback to level the four-match series as they beat

It might have been a depleted Bangladeshi side that went down to Zimbabwe on Wednesday, but almost nobody in Khulna took the defeat lightly.

The contrast between the scenes at the end of yesterday's match at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna and those of the previous two T20Is at the venue could hardly have been starker. The crowd had quietly slipped away from the stadium; there were no firecrackers burst; and almost nobody celebrated on the ground.

There might be as many as four Bangladeshi players making their T20I debuts when the Tigers play Zimbabwe in the third T20I in Khulna today.

True to captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's words, the first two T20Is in Khulna witnessed a number of different tactics applied by the Tigers. Shakib Al Hasan was asked to bat lower down in the order and the powerful Sabbir Rahman replaced the left-hander at three, Nurul Hasan took over the wicketkeeping gloves from Mushfiqur Rahim while Shuvagata Hom's role in the team was tested as a bowling all-rounder.

Despite recurring batting issues Bangladesh raced to a thumping 42-run win over Zimbabwe in the second T20I at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna yesterday, taking a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. In the end Bangladesh's traditional weapon, their spin attack, turned out to be too much for the visitors to handle as they were restricted to 125 for eight in their chase of 167.

"Watch!" a terrified Nasir screamed as a ball smashed onto the side-screen in front of which close to three-dozen

In front of a highly enthusiastic crowd at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium, which rarely gets to see the Tigers in town, Bangladesh coasted to a four-wicket win in the first of the four T20I series against Zimbabwe yesterday. It might have been a comfortable finish in the end with Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and co ambling past their target of 163 with four wickets and eight balls remaining, but the cracks in Bangladesh's T20 approach were on display yet again.

You needed something special to defeat the likes of India and South Africa, and that, for Bangladesh, came in the form of Mustafizur Rahman -- a freak of a bowler, who absolutely changed the entire balance of the Bangladesh team.

Compare the years 2014 and 2015 and one will find a series of contradictions. 2014 with all its 'cricketing'

Chittagong Vikings' journey at home ended in the worst possible manner as they suffered an agonizing five-wicket defeat to the Comilla Victorians yesterday.

Chittagong's spectators finally got the treat they had been waiting for ever since the start of this week, as the home team romped to a ten-wicket win over the Sylhet Superstars at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday. This was only the second time that a team managed to complete a ten-wicket win in the Bangladesh Premier League.

In a matter of 20 minutes, the Chittagong Vikings went from dominating the game to being flayed to all corners of the park. The floodgates had been opened after the 13th over of the match and the hosts were drowning.

Bad pitch? Low Bounce? These factors tend to go down the drains when

Another low-scoring match, another intense finish and yet another teasing defeat for the Sylhet Superstars; the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), so far, hasn't been too kind to Mushfiqur Rahim and co.

The one thing that has been absolutely obvious in the third season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is that the wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur tends to wear down a bit during the evening matches.

As cool as a cucumber and as sharp as a knife, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza showed his more established batsmen how it's done. Never mind