It all began by eliminating India and beating South Africa in the 2007 World Cup; five months later, they tipped West Indies in the inaugural World T20. Come the 2011 World Cup, England came second in a relatively low scoring game at Chittagong - after being hunted by Kevin O'Brien and company earlier - and at Adelaide in 2015, England were shown the door by yet another inspirational performance by Bangladesh. But they were not done yet: two years later, Bangladesh knocked out New Zealand from the Champions Trophy. They have gone from strength to strength in the last few years, learning well to balance the side with attacking batsmen, accurate pacers and accomplished spinners.

Bangladesh have history on their side - their journey of stunning the opposition in a World Cup had begun as early as 1999 against Pakistan - and if it does repeat itself, it could leave a sour taste in the mouth of one of the cricketing giants at the highest stage. Most importantly, they carry the morale of a first tri-series victory, having chased down 210 in a shortened 24-over ODI against a near full-strength West Indies in the final two days back.

Key Players

The core of the Bangladesh squad consists of senior players like captain Mashrafe Mortaza, all-rounders Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah, and batsmen Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. They have all been there and done that, with each of them having played over a decade of international cricket. Four months shy of his international debut, only Mahmudullah was not in the playing eleven when Bangladesh paved the way for India’s early exit from the 2007 World Cup. And while this could well be the last World Cup for the quintet, they would leave no stone unturned in making the 2019 edition memorable for the current generation of Bangladesh fans.

Injury Worries

While the tri-series win has brought great confidence, some of it has come at the cost of losing Shakib al Hasan to a side strain in the last group game before the final. Shakib seemed to have grabbed his left side in pain while batting against Ireland after which physio Thihan Chandramohan attempted to eradicate it but only in vain. Immediately after that, Shakib felt the pain again and decided to leave the field as a precautionary measure ahead of the World Cup. The BCB will be hoping their senior player can be fit and firing before Bangladesh start their campaign against South Africa on June 2.

Tournament Tag: Underdogs

Squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Tamim Iqbal, Abu Jayed, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mustafizur Rahman, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin and Soumya Sarkar