The string of losses they suffered at their own backyard seemingly put paid to their prospects in the World Cup in totally different conditions in Australia and New Zealand.
But they have pulled things off quite comfortably.
Bracketed with the two co-hosts, Sri Lanka and England, the group phase promised to be a bumpy ride for Bangladesh as Afghanistan and Scotland were capable of pulling off a few surprises.
Bangladesh had been flying high with a 3-0 New Zealand rout before suffering a slump in form. It was a 3-0 series defeat against Sri Lanka that had started the slide.
The series defeat against the Lankans was followed by a forgettable Asia Cup campaign.
Bangladesh, runners-up in the previous edition, crashed out losing all their matches, which included their infamous defeat against Afghanistan.
Despite beating Afghanistan in the qualification round of the Twenty20 World Cup, they suffered another woeful defeat against Hong Kong and followed that up with losses in all four matches in the competition.
Losing another home series 2-0 against India, they flew to the Caribbeans hoping to regain some touch, but were crushed 3-0 in the tour.
Over the course of time, they had found creative manners of defeat, losing after putting up their highest ODI total (326/3 against Pakistan) or bowling out their opponents (India) for their lowest total against Bangladesh (105).
Losing matches from winnable positions dealt a massive blow to the confidence of the Tigers who were looking for just one win to get back poise and a bit of inspiration.
The team underwent an overhaul following the defeats.
And it did the trick. When the long-awaited win did come, it came in style; not one, but eight consecutive wins in Tests and ODIs combined.
Appointment of Chandika Hathurusingha as head coach and Heath Streak as pace bowling coach with separate captaincy in different formats of the game seemed to have worked wonders.
Mushfiqur Rahim lost captaincy making way for Mashrafe to return at the helm.
Bangladesh returned to the winning ways pulverising Zimbabwe 3-0 in Tests and 5-0 in ODIs.
Hard work followed the series against Zimbabwe as the Tigers began their World Cup preparations.
They took part in a two-week training camp in Brisbane to assess themselves.
The unfamiliar pace and bounce on the wickets proved too much for Bangladesh and they lost all four of the warm-up matches. They followed it up with two defeats against Cricket Australia XI and losses against Pakistan and Ireland.
