Will this time be any different?

A peek at the recent form of most of the cricket-playing nations might just be enough to give you an idea as to how they could fare at a particular event.

But can the same be said about Bangladesh as well?

Unfortunately, when the team is Bangladesh, the format is T20Is, and the event is the T20 World Cup, the aforementioned notion could barely stand true.

Among the top 10 T20I teams, only Australia (60), India (60), and Sri Lanka (60) have a better win percentage in their last 10 games than Bangladesh (50). While this particular stat is certainly not enough to judge any team's plight, very few would keep the Tigers in the same category, or just after teams like Australia and India in the shortest format.

More than Bangladesh not having a robust pedigree as Australia and India, it is the inability to prepare in a way that would truly reflect their condition in the format is probably one of the major reasons behind the Tigers' failure in not being able to beat any of the renowned T20 sides since their six-wicket win over West Indies in their very first T20 World Cup game in its maiden edition in 2007. To make things worse, Bangladesh have suffered humiliating losses against Ireland (2009) Hong Kong (at home in 2014), and Scotland (2021) in the mega event.

Bangladesh prepared for the ninth edition of the tournament, to begin on June 2, by playing a five-match T20I home series against Zimbabwe -- a side that failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup by losing against Namibia and Uganda in the qualifiers last November -- and another three-match T20I series away to USA -- a team who are making their maiden appearance in the showpiece event by virtue of being co-hosts.

Was the 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe enough to gauge the Tigers' strengths and weaknesses? Will the series against the USA -- a team ranked 10 places below ninth-placed Bangladesh in T20I rankings -- be enough to propel the Tigers to their best-ever campaign in the T20 World Cup?

Bangladesh have never been able to progress beyond the group stage in the history of the major event, with one of their most commendable campaign coming in the previous edition in which the Tigers could only beat the Netherlands and Zimbabwe. 

"It is not a preparation to be world champions," former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful's judgement in this regard rings absolutely true.

"If we give our best, we can win the first game against Sri Lanka. Then we can hope to go through to the next round by beating Nepal and the Netherlands. That's it. We still have not developed the culture of a team that would go on to be champions," Ashraful added.

Answers to these aforementioned questions would also be negative if past indications are anything to go by. Bangladesh had failed to win any of their main-round matches in the 2021 T20 World Cup despite going into that edition of the tournament on the back of 'historic series wins' against Australia and New Zealand -- both these series were played on low and slow Mirpur pitches that helped the Tigers to get the wins, giving them a false sense of achievement that eventually turned out to be fatal.

Players and team management may not have much to say in choosing the opposition they get to play, but they certainly can determine, plan, and try to execute the type of cricket they want to play in any particular series.

But the type of cricket displayed by the Tigers in the Zimbabwe series only solidified the worries that already existed. From being shocked and enraged at how Liton Das threw his wicket away by trying to scoop in the third match, skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto not being able to snap out of his poor form to Bangladesh failing to capitalise on a rare 100-plus opening stand in the fourth match -- the Zimbabwe series only made fans fear of yet another subpar T20 World Cup.

"It is obvious that we want [Bangladesh] to dominate against Zimbabwe. But, this time, we couldn't do that in every game. But maybe, getting to know your shortcomings is also a good preparation," said Ashraful, trying to find a silver lining.

Even after winning the toss on two occasions during the Zimbabwe series, Bangladesh opted to choose the safer way of bowling first instead of, perhaps, being bold enough to bat first and gauge their batters' mettle in posting daunting totals -- given that it is the fragile batting line-up that desperately needed some fixing.

"Yes, we could have done that [batted first when we won the toss in the Zimbabwe series]. We could have tested our batters a bit. We missed out on that part. Maybe, because we are too afraid; afraid of what people might say if we somehow lose the series against Zimbabwe," Ashraful agreed.

It is hard to imagine that Bangladesh had their best run in the shortest format just a year ago. In 2023, the Tigers were on a roll in T20Is, whitewashing defending champions England (3-0), a strong Afghan side (2-0), and beating Ireland (2-1) on sporting surfaces at home before going on to register their maiden T20I win over New Zealand in the Kiwis' backyard in a drawn series.

A total of 10 wins in 14 games that year, most of them under the captaincy of Shakib Al Hasan, showed glimpses that even Bangladesh probably have what it would take to make their presence felt in T20Is.

However, the Tigers' amazing run got nipped in the bud eventually, with a change in leadership in the aftermath of a disastrous 2023 ODI World Cup campaign.

"It would probably have been better for the Bangladesh team if Shakib's only involvement was in cricket. But now he has a lot of other responsibilities. He probably did not want the regular captaincy and that's why the board had to change leadership," Ashraful stated the obvious.

However, the preparation phase is now done and dusted. While the omens do not point towards Bangladesh being able to re-write their T20 World Cup records come June 8 when they begin their campaign against familiar foes Sri Lanka in Dallas, fans can only hope for an unlikely turnaround of fate as it is high time they left a significant mark in the showpiece event.