As South Africa are celebrating their first ICC title in 27 years after winning the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord鈥檚 on Saturday, Bangladesh are preparing for the new cycle to start.
The Tigers face Sri Lanka in the first of the two-test series, starting on Tuesday at Galle to mark the beginning of the 2025鈥�27 cycle in which Bangladesh will play 12 Tests, just like the previous one.
Among their scheduled dozen of Tests, Bangladesh will play three home and an equal number of away series, starting with the one against Sri Lanka, each consisting of two matches.
After touring Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are scheduled to host Pakistan for a two-match series in March next year.
In between those two Tests, Ireland are supposed to tour Bangladesh for a two-Test series, although that will not be under the WTC, as Ireland are not a part of it.
Apart from Pakistan, Bangladesh will play three more Test series, according to the Future Tour Programme of the ICC.
Tigers will tour Zimbabwe (not part of WTC) in June next year, while the West Indies will visit Bangladesh in October. Bangladesh will then visit South Africa in November.
Two big series against England and Australia will mark the end of Bangladesh鈥檚 upcoming WTC cycle in February-March 2027.
England will visit Bangladesh in February 2027, which will be the first Test series between the two nations in 11 years.
Bangladesh last played England in 2016 at home, when they beat them at Mirpur in the second Test for the first time.
The Tigers are supposed to visit Australia in March 2027, which will be only the second visit for them to Down Under for a Test series after their two-match series back in 2003.
Bangladesh did moderately well in the last cycle, where they finished seventh, ahead of West Indies and Pakistan.
They won four out of 12 matches and had a point percentage of 31.25.
But among those four wins, three came away, while the only home victory came against New Zealand.
Bangladesh clinched a historic series win over Pakistan in Pakistan while defeating the West Indies in the Caribbean.
But going into the new cycle, one major concern will be how they perform at home. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who retained the Test captaincy for another year, didn鈥檛 hide the fact.
鈥榃e did really badly in home Tests in the previous WTC cycle,鈥� Shanto said recently.
鈥榃e have to win more at home. We have to do more specific planning at home. Playing well overseas gives us more confidence, but if we can combine the both, we can have a better WTC cycle,鈥� he added.
He also pointed out the challenges they鈥檇 probably face in the new cycle.
鈥榃e have to do very well in this new cycle. We will be playing against strong sides in the 12 Tests in the 2025-27 cycle,鈥� said the southpaw.
鈥榃e have to go through a lot of challenges. I think if we work hard together, we can get a better result,鈥� he added.
