Top 5 winless streaks for a Test side at home since start of 2000 ft. Pakistan
Bangladesh secured a 2-0 Test series whitewash against Pakistan to script the greatest moment in their red-ball history on Tuesday, September 3. On the final day of the second Test, Bangladesh chased down 185 and won the game by six wickets at Rawalpindi.
With this result, Pakistan has now faced a home Test series defeat to each of the ten oldest full-member teams. Interestingly, Pakistan have lost all five Tests under Shan Masood's captaincy. They are virtually out of the race to the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 finals.
With such form comes a disappointing record, as Pakistan haven't won a test match since February 2021 at home. Along with them, there are a few teams who have had a winless streak on their home soil as well. Let's take a look at where the Masood-led side stands among the teams having top winless streaks since 2000.
#5 West Indies - 9
West Indies ranks fifth on the list as they went winless in nine home matches during 2009-10. They secured a big victory by an innings and 23 runs in the first game of the five-match series against England in February 2009. However, the rest of the games ended as draws. They then faced a 2-0 whitewash loss against Bangladesh and a 2-0 (3) defeat against South Africa.
West Indies finally managed to break the deadlock by completing a 40-run victory over Pakistan in May 2011 under the leadership of Daren Sammy.
#4 Pakistan - 10
After facing a series whitewash against Bangladesh, Pakistan's winless streak at home stretched to 10 games. Their last victory on home soil came in February 2021, when the Babar Azam-led side won by 95 runs against South Africa.
Since then, Australia secured a 1-0 (3) victory, England completed a 3-0 whitewash, and New Zealand played out a 0-0 draw (2). Bangladesh further extended their dismal show on home soil. They are close to equaling their record of 11 home Tests without a win, which came between 1969 and 1975.
#3 Zimbabwe - 14
Zimbabwe made their Test debut in October 1992 against India in Harare, which ended as a draw. Their first Test victory came against Pakistan in February 1995.
However, Zimbabwe haven't secured a victory in any of their 14 home Tests since 2013. Their last red-ball victory came against Pakistan, as the Brendan Taylor-led side prevailed by 24 runs. In their last home series, West Indies secured a 1-0 victory in February 2023.
#2 Bangladesh - 15
Bangladesh made their Test debut in November 2000 against India in Dhaka. Although the Naimur Rahman-led side posted a 400-run total in the first innings, they eventually faced a loss by nine wickets.
Then, they faced a 1-0 defeat in a two-match series against Zimbabwe. This loss was followed by a 2-0 whitewash losses against teams like Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, England, New Zealand, and India.
However, Bangladesh finally secured their maiden Test victory by 225 runs against Zimbabwe in January 2005 under the leadership of Habibul Bashar. They also won the series 1-0.
#1 Bangladesh - 27
The first Test victory against Zimbabwe in 2005 was expected to turn things around for Bangladesh cricket. However, what preceded was a nine-year hiatus to finally get their second win in the longest format of the game. Through this stretch, Bangladesh were winless in 27 Tests at home.
The teams like Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa toured the country and secured 2-0 clean sweeps. Although the side managed to avoid a whitewash against New Zealand in 2008, England completed a 2-0 whitewash in 2010.
Then, the Caribbean team prevailed 1-0 in a two-match series, while Pakistan completed a 2-0 whitewash in 2011. West Indies toured again in the following year and clean swept them 2-0. The Kiwi side played out a 0-0 draw in a two-match series in 2013, which signaled the rise of Bangladesh. In 2014, they faced a 1-0 loss in a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
The winless streak finally stopped in October 2014, when Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh. The Mushfiqur Rahim-led side completed a 3-0 series whitewash to bring much-needed confidence to the Test setup.