After all the chit-chats and all the speculations, Bangladesh are finally on the verge of playing their first game in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Their first match is against the Netherlands, a team they are expected to win against. And that is what increases the pressure, as a win against the Dutch won't bring in plaudits, but a defeat will bring a landslide of disappointed slurs.
The Tigers' preparation for the World Cup has been far from ideal. While they did get two wins in two against the United Arab Emirates, they lost all four of their matches in the tri-series in New Zealand.
But still, they have hope because, with each passing game in New Zealand, their batting got a tad better. In the tournament's final game, Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan hit fifties, something for them to build upon.
Bangladesh will most likely field Soumya Sarkar to partner Liton up top, which might give them slightly better fortune.
Why is that? Soumya is one of the two members of this team to ever play in Australia alongside Shakib. Sabbir Rahman could have been the third, but he was axed, and Soumya took his place.
Soumya's batting is aided by the pace and bounce off the surface, something that does not happen in Bangladesh's sluggish pitches, where the left-handed batter lost his touch.
But in the Australian conditions, Soumya might find ideal pitches to finally score, something Bangladesh have rarely found from their openers in the recent past. And if he fails, what more does Bangladesh have to lose?
While their batting concern runs through from top to bottom, there have been some improvements since Sridharan Sriram's appointment as the technical consultant of the T20 side.
But what remains as it was is the bowling department, and without it, any success remains unlikely.
And amidst everything, the biggest concern has been the form of Mustafizur Rahman. The left-arm seamer has lost his form to such an extent that he was dropped after the first match in New Zealand and could not make it back into the XI in the next three matches.
According to reports, this decision to drop him was not made because of his form but rather to rectify his bowling action.
Mustafiz, since his shoulder injury in 2016, opted for a more side-arm action to save his shoulder from the stress. But that took away his magic, and thus the Bangladesh coaching panel are currently trying to bring his straight-arm action back to regain his past form.
But whatever Mustafiz does, he is unlikely to be Bangladesh's trump card with the ball in Australia. That spot will most likely go to Hasan Mahmud, the lanky young pacer.
Mahmud bowls with good pace, hits good lines and lengths with the new ball and is accurate with the old one. Overall, he seems to be the perfect package to succeed in Australia. If he can stay fit throughout the tournament, he will likely have a big role for the Tigers.
Another wildcard for Bangladesh might be Shoriful Islam, who came into the squad at the expense of Mohammad Saif Uddin. The tall left-arm pacer might extract extra bounce, making the batters uncomfortable.
It has been 15 years since Bangladesh found a win on the main stage of the T20 World Cup. This time around, they have Netherlands and Zimbabwe in their group to break the duck.
The hope is for them to do it; the question is whether they will leave it all to despair again.
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