Exactly one year has passed since Bangladesh’s underwhelming World Cup campaign ended and a number of seismic events in those 12 months have put Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan into shade, helping Tamim Iqbal emerge as the new leader of the Tigers.

On July 5, 2019 the Tigers lost their last match of the World Cup against Pakistan at Lord’s, which concluded an underwhelming tournament for Bangladesh, as they finished eighth in the 10-team event.

The disappointing show caused the axing of head coach Steve Rhodes and bowling coach Courtney Walsh right after the tournament ended, but Bangladesh team was still feeling the effects of their World Cup woes when they toured Sri Lanka for a three-ODI series under stand-in skipper Tamim, with regular captain Mashrafe getting injured right before the series and Shakib, Bangladesh’s the best performer in the World Cup, skipping the tour.

The island nation rubbed salt to Bangladesh’s World Cup wounds by handing them a 3-0 drubbing and the disappointment got amplified two months later when the Tigers lost a home Test against novice Afghanistan side under Shakib’s leadership.

Bangladesh and Afghanistan then shared the trophy of the Twenty20 tri-nation, with Zimbabwe being the other team, but that couldn’t lessen the embarrassment of the Test defeat.

Next, Bangladesh were set to tour India for a complete bi-lateral series for the first time in November, but a few days before the series all first-class cricketers of the country began an unprecedented strike, refusing to take part in any cricket-related activity unless all of their 11 demands were met.

Shakib emerged as the leader of the movement, which included every national team cricketer barring the then ODI skipper Mashrafe, indicating the power inside the dressing room was shifting towards the ace all-rounder.

The movement was a success as the board accepted the demand to end the stalemate, but just a week later a bombshell was dropped on Bangladesh cricket, when the International Cricket Council banned Shakib for one year for not disclosing multiple corrupt approaches.

Following the revelation, a mentally tattered Bangladesh squad toured India, surprised the hosts by winning the first Twenty20 match and then lost all of their remaining matches.

In place of Shakib, Mominul accompanied Virat Kohli for the toss of both sides’ first pink-ball Test in Kolkata, which ended in an embarrassing innings defeat.

Bangladesh’s poor run continued in the Pakistan series, where they lost all three Twenty20s and the first Test.

Mashrafe, who hadn’t played any international match since the World Cup, was always in the news with speculations regarding his retirement.

The pacer, himself, ended the debate by stepping down from captaincy after the Zimbabwe home series, which Bangladesh won comfortably.

The Twenty20 skipper Mahmudullah was the favourite to be Mashrafe’s successor but the board decided to place their trust on Tamim and the opener reportedly accepted the role only after being ensured a long tenure.

Tamim’s reign as skipper, however, couldn’t begin as the worldwide pandemic halted all cricketing activities, but he still showed his leadership qualities by hosting an impromptu talk show on social media with team-mates to keep the team bonded.

Tamim also personally helped a number of struggling athletes and his actions during this crisis have made him the face of Bangladesh cricket, something hard to imagine a year earlier.