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Bangladesh has rarely been competitive since they started playing Test cricket in November 2000.� The series against India was always going to be a set of completely one-sided fixtures between mismatched opponents.�
India began the series with a 286 rating point advantage over Bangladesh.� The size of the difference in the rating between nations reflects their relative strength.� A 286-point lead is similar to the difference between Australia and New Zealand or England and West Indies.� Recently, Australia has whitewashed New Zealand in a two Test series and England whitewashed West Indies in a four Test series.
Therefore, India was never going to be troubled by Bangladesh.� In each Test, India made over 500 runs in a single innings and Bangladesh was unable to force India to bat again.� India won by an innings and 140 runs in the first Test in Dhaka and by an innings and 83 runs in Chittagong.
However, in the second Test, Bangladesh did manage to pass 300 runs and came within eight runs of avoiding the follow on.� That was largely thanks to an undefeated 158 runs by Mohammad Ashraful.�
The clean sweep of the series has lifted India's rating to a national record high of 1078 ratings points.� India's previous best rating of 1074 points was set in February 1980 after they defeated Pakistan.
In addition, India has now overtaken Pakistan to claim fourth place in the ratings.� India has not held fourth place in the ratings since January 1992.�
India's chances of moving even higher up the ladder to third place are less certain.� In the short term, India is now 47 rating points behind second placed South Africa and third placed England.� Both nations are separated by only one rating point and are currently battling in a five Test series in South Africa.�
Only a catastrophic loss by South Africa or England in the current series would see the gap back to India narrowing enough for India to claim third place within the next year.� The more likely result is a draw, although trends over the last two years suggest England may narrowly defeat South Africa and claim second position.� In any event, India has not held third position in the ratings since May 1989.
For Bangladesh, the series has taken their rating to a new low.� Bangladesh's rating has dropped to 782 points, which is the lowest by any nation in the history of Test cricket.� Bangladesh is locked into tenth place in the ratings with a massive 99 ratings points separating them from ninth placed Zimbabwe on 881 points.� Zimbabwe is again another 86 points behind eighth placed West Indies.
Bangladesh's Test record now stands at 31 losses from their first 34 Tests.� New Zealand currently holds the record for the longest initial number of Tests played before recording a victory.� Between 1930 and 1956, New Zealand played 44 Tests before winning their 45th encounter, against West Indies.� However, New Zealand drew 22 of those first 44 Tests.
Of Bangladesh's 31 losses to date: 20 have been lost by an innings; seven have been lost by seven-wickets or more; and three were lost by more than 150 runs. Bangladesh has had only one narrow loss, by one wicket, to Pakistan in late 2003.
One of the problems facing Bangladesh is that their batsmen have only ever reached an innings total over 300 runs on seven occasions out of 65 completed innings.� On average, Bangladesh will make 198 runs off 70 overs in each innings.� That record is unlikely to strike much fear in opposing teams.
Bangladesh's other problem is that their bowlers have been unable to restrict opposing batsmen from making totals their own batsmen can match.� Overall, Bangladesh has shown little if any signs of improvement over the last four years and the outlook is not looking much better.
�
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1. Australia (1237); 2. South Africa (1126); 3. England (1125); 4. India (1078); 5. Pakistan (1076) ; 6. Sri Lanka (1045); 7. New Zealand (1021); 8. West Indies (967); 9. Zimbabwe (881); 10. Bangladesh (782).
