The Bangladesh men's national cricket team (), administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), represents Bangladesh in international cricket. They are a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) status.

Bangladesh became an associate member of the ICC in 1977, making their first official international appearance at the 1979 ICC Trophy. While football was historically the country's most popular sport, cricket grew in popularity during the late 1990s. The team won the 1997 ICC Trophy, qualifying for their first Cricket World Cup in 1999. At the World Cup, they defeated Scotland and caused a significant upset by defeating Pakistan, a performance that helped accelerate their promotion to full member status. On 26 June 2000, Bangladesh became the 10th Test-playing nation and played their inaugural Test match against India in Dhaka in November of that year.

The team struggled significantly in its early years as a full member, holding the record for the most consecutive losses in Tests (21, between 2001 and 2004) and ODIs (23, between 1999 and 2002). Their maiden Test victory came against Zimbabwe in 2005, and they secured their first overseas Test series victory against the West Indies in 2009. Results have improved over time, particularly at home, with series wins against major cricketing nations including Pakistan, India, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia. As of 30 June 2026, Bangladesh has played 159 Tests with 27 wins. In limited-overs cricket, the team has won 169 of 464 ODIs and 87 of 217 T20Is.

In major tournaments, Bangladesh reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the semi-finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy. They are three-time runners-up in the Asia Cup (2012, 2016, and 2018) and reached the final of the 2018 Nidahas Trophy. In 2019, they won their first multi-team tournament, the Ireland Tri-Nation Series.

As of 20 May 2026, the ICC ranks Bangladesh 7th in Tests, 8th in ODIs, and 9th in T20Is.

History

20th century Several East Pakistan-based teams played in Pakistani domestic cricket prior to Bangladesh's declaration of independence in 1971—the East Pakistan cricket team fielded three players who later played ICC Trophy matches. In 1977, Bangladesh became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Bangladesh was one of fifteen teams to take part in the inaugural ICC Trophy. Bangladesh, under the captaincy of Raqibul Hasan, won two matches and lost two, but failed to progress beyond the first round. Victory in the South-East Asian Cricket Conference Tournament in February 1984 ensured Bangladesh qualified for the 1986 Asia Cup. On 31 March 1986, Bangladesh played their first One Day International against a full member of the ICC.

Captained by Jayampathi Wickramarathne, Bangladesh was dismissed for 94 runs, and Pakistan reached their target for victory with seven wickets in hand. They lost their second ODI, which was against Sri Lanka, finishing last in the three-team tournament. Bangladesh qualified for the 1988 Asia Cup, this time hosting the tournament; it was the first time ODIs had been staged in the country. Although they lost all their matches, Bangladesh's fixtures were retrospectively awarded ODI. Floods in the preceding months meant the tournament was in doubt, but it went ahead as planned. A charity match raised $70,000 for the flood victims.

Bangladesh took part in the 1990 Austral-Asia Cup, the Asia Cup in 1990–91, 1995, 1997, and several other triangular tournaments. Still, it was not until 1998 that they won their first ODI. Their 22-match losing streak since their first ODI was at the time a record.

Bangladesh posted its first ODI win against Kenya, in India, thanks largely to Mohammad Rafique, who contributed a fiery 77 runs and took 3 wickets. He put on 137 for the first wicket with Athar Ali Khan, whose own contribution was 47.Bangladesh v Kenya (17 May 1998) , Retrieved on (27 January 2008)

In October 1998, Bangladesh hosted (but did not participate in) the first ICC KnockOut Trophy ever held, a knock-out ODI tournament featuring all the test-playing nations.

Bangladesh took part in each of the 1979, 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994 editions of the ICC Trophy, and won the trophy in 1997, in the process qualifying for the 1999 World Cup. The general secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Aminul Huq Moni, took the initiative to install Astro Turf in Abahani Cricket Ground and Bangabandhu National Stadium so that the local players had two full seasons to prepare on the type of pitch they would be playing in ICC Trophy in 1997. Bangladesh also became a regular ICC member with the right to play ODIs and started hosting bilateral and triangular ODI tournaments. Earlier, in February, Dhaka hosted the third and final SAARC cricket tournament. Bangladesh played in its first World Cup in England in 1999 and recorded its first win in a World Cup match against Scotland. Later on, Bangladesh created an enormous upset by beating Pakistan by 62 runs in the group match at Northampton. Bangladesh made 9/223 from its full 50 overs, and in reply, Pakistan could only manage 161 due to timely run-outs by wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud and some tight bowling by Khaled Mahmud, who took 3/31 from 10 overs. Mahmud was judged the man of the match. Bangladesh did not qualify for the Super Six round due to defeats in three of its five matches. However, the win over Pakistan, who finished runners-up to Australia, helped Bangladesh to gain test-playing status the following year. Bangladesh had sacked coach Gordon Greenidge, who had steered the team through the 1997 ICC Trophy and into the 1999 World Cup on the morning of the match.

Former South Africa Test cricketer Eddie Barlow became Bangladesh's coach in 1999. In preparation for becoming a Test-playing country, Bangladesh established its own first-class competition in 1999–2000, although the matches were not given first-class status until the 2000–2001 season. The lack of an established first-class structure in the country until shortly before Bangladesh played its debut Test has been cited as one of the reasons the team struggled to adapt to the longer format of the game. The West Indies toured Bangladesh in October, winning both matches in the ODI series. After suffering a stroke in April 2000, Barlow vacated the position of coach, and Sarwar Imran was handed the coaching job. In May and June 2000, Bangladesh hosted the Asia Cup; Bangladesh lost all three of their matches, and playing against Pakistan, Bangladesh recorded the heaviest defeat in ODIs, a margin of 233 runs at the time. Bangladesh participated in the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy in October; their only match ended in defeat by England.

First years as a Test team (2000–2003) On 13 November 2000, Bangladesh played their inaugural Test match, hosting India in Dhaka.

The first Test run in the history of Bangladesh Cricket came from the bat of Mehrab Hossain, who also scored the first ODI hundred by an individual player for Bangladesh in 1999. Captained by Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh lost by nine wickets, although Wisden noted that they "surpassed all expectations by matching their neighbours, and at times, even enjoying the upper hand". Aminul Islam Bulbul scored 145 in the first innings, becoming the third person to have scored a century in their team's first Test; Rahman took 6 wickets for 132 runs, the second-best bowling figures in a country's maiden Test. In March 2001, former Australian Test cricketer Trevor Chappell was appointed coach. The following month, Bangladesh embarked on a tour of Zimbabwe to play two Tests and three ODIs. Zimbabwe, who at the time were ranked ninth out of the ten Test teams, won all five matches.

Bangladesh took part in the 2001–02 Asian Test Championship, the second and final time the championship was held and the first the team had been eligible to play in. They lost both their matches by an innings. Mohammad Ashraful made his debut in the series and became the youngest player to score a Test century in his first match.

In November, Bangladesh hosted Zimbabwe for two Tests and three ODIs. The opening Test was curtailed by bad weather and ended in a draw; after losing their first five Tests, it was the first time Bangladesh had avoided defeat. Zimbabwe won all the remaining matches. After the Test series wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud replaced Rahman as captain. The following month Bangladesh toured New Zealand for two Test matches. Bangladesh's batsmen struggled in unfamiliar conditions and the team slumped to two innings defeats.

In January 2002, Bangladesh hosted Pakistan for two Tests and three ODIs where Bangladesh lost all the matches. At this point, they had lost ten of their first eleven Tests; only South Africa had struggled as much in their introduction to Test cricket, also losing ten of their first eleven matches. Chappell blamed Bangladesh's batsmen for the loss, saying "they commit the same mistakes again and again, and need to learn to apply themselves, to bat in sessions". In April, former Pakistan Test cricketer Mohsin Kamal replaced Chappell as coach. When Bangladesh toured Sri Lanka in July and August they were on the receiving end of Sri Lanka's largest margin of victory in Test cricket: an innings and 196 runs. Bangladesh lost both Tests and all three ODIs on the tour, recording their 50th defeat in 53 ODIs. Repeated poor performances prompted people to question whether Bangladesh had been granted Test status too soon. Two defeats against Australia and New Zealand in pool matches knocked Bangladesh out of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy.

In October, Bangladesh got whitewashed in both Test and ODI series against in South Africa.Wisden noted that "Time and again ... came the mantra that [Bangladesh] would learn from the experience, that they could only improve by playing against the best, that there was genuine talent in the squad. But it wore thin." The final defeat set a record for most consecutive losses in ODIs (23), beating the previous record, which was also held by Bangladesh. When West Indies toured in November and December, Bangladesh lost both Tests and two out of the three ODIs, and one ended in no result. Bangladesh hit several new lows on the third day of the first Test: their lowest innings total (87), their lowest match aggregate (226), and the biggest defeat in their 16 Tests (by an innings and 310 runs).

South Africa hosted the 2003 World Cup in February and March. Bangladesh lost five of their six matches (one ended in no result), including fixtures against Canada, who hadn't played international cricket since the 1979 World Cup, and Kenya, who eventually made the semi-finals of the tournament. In the aftermath of Bangladesh's World Cup campaign, Habibul Bashar replaced Khaled Mashud as captain, and Kamal was sacked as coach with Dav Whatmore taking over the role. Whatmore was not able to begin the job immediately, so Sarwar Imran acted as interim coach during TVS Cup and South Africa's tour of Bangladesh in April and May. Bangladesh lost all four ODIs by large margins and two Tests by innings.

Under Dav Whatmore (2003–2007) Bangladesh played two Tests and three ODI matches on a mid-year tour of Australia in 2003.They lost every single match on that tour.

In August 2003, Bangladesh toured Pakistan to play three Tests and five ODIs matches. This was Bangladesh's second tour to Pakistan, with the first occurring in 2001–02, when the teams played one Test match. Both series ended in whitewash, with Pakistan winning the Test series 3 – 0 and the ODI series 5 – 0.