The Bangladesh team has held its own in the ODI format for the last few years. But in the T20I format, they are at the opposite pole.
The team continuously performs poorly and surrenders helplessly to the opponents, even the weaker ones.
Losing early wickets, especially two wickets in powerplay and not being able to score more than 30 runs have become a habit now.
In the last 13 matches (including T20 WC matches) Bangladesh's opening partnership average is only 10.69.
Batter's inefficiency in strike rotation and playing too many dot balls are the main reasons for Bangladesh not getting a big score.
In the last 10 matches, including T20 WC matches, their average first innings score is 129.1 runs. They have not been able to overcome this problem in the past years and are still suffering from it.
Also, losing quick wickets in the middle overs, not being able to play a fiery cameo - Bangladesh’s batting lineup has all sorts of trouble in this format.
In recent times, horrible fielding has become one of the biggest problems for the Tigers. They are diving into hot soup by dropping easy catches and misfielding in almost every match.
According to ESPNCricinfo stats, last year, till November itself, Bangladesh dropped 47 catches in 33 matches which is 20.5 per cent of the total chances.
As a result, fielding coach Ryan Cook has been fired.
Though in recent times, the Tigers are doing well in the bowling department in T20I. Shakib Al Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Nasum Ahmed and Mehdi Hasan have all been in good form.
They combinedly took 63 wickets in the last 13 T20I. It is safe to say whatever achievements Bangladesh has got in the past one year or so have all come through bowling performance.
Apart from the team’s failure to produce good performance on the field, BCB’s competence has been continuously questioned. Failure of producing a strong pipeline is visible as daylight.
The quality of domestic leagues such as BPL and DPL has been heavily criticised by fans and critics alike. Yet, no visible action from BCB is seen.
Players who are accustomed to playing matches on slow and dead pitches at home find themselves lost when playing on a good pitch. Besides, they lose their game continuously playing on dead pitches.
Whereas other global teams are seemingly becoming more destructive and playing a more fearless game in T20Is, Bangladesh is going in the opposite direction.
With another T20 World Cup on the horizon, BCB seems indifferent with no visible plan to make this campaign better than the previous one last year. That said, another disastrous campaign is highly likely.
mahamudulhasan1137@gmail.com