Death Over bowling cost Bangladesh the Asia Cup. It can easily be the headline for Bangladesh's journey this time.
And as it happens pretty often in the T20 tournaments, Bangladesh got out early after some dismal performances.
Against Afghanistan, Bangladesh were the winner until the 16th over of the Afghan innings.
Against Sri Lanka, it was Bangladesh's game to lose for 38 overs. And they somehow managed it in the last 2. And all these can be attributed to death bowling.
Against Afghanistan, Mustafiz and Saifuddin conceded 16 and 22 runs in the 16th and 17th over, while Ebadot conceded 18 against Sri Lanka in the 19th over.
Bangladesh's death over bowling has been a matter of dismay over the last 1 year, specifically since the last T20 World Cup.
In this period, Bangladesh conceded runs at an economy of 10.43 in the 16-20 overs. They bowled almost 50 overs in this period but only gathered 19 wickets while keeping the economy at such a high level.
If we look individually, the most overs in the death were bowled by Mustafiz and Shoriful, Bangladesh's regular death bowlers.
Astonishingly, both of them have economy rates above 10. For Shoriful, it's 11.36, while for Mustafiz, it's 10.81.
Shoriful has a decent average and strike rate of 20.83 and 11, respectively, as he picked 6 wickets in the death.
Mustafiz has been horrible with 2 wickets at an average of 59+ and a strike rate of 33. The team management should seriously consider dropping him now.
Another of our strike bowlers, Taskin, also has similar numbers. His economy is 10.5, picked only 1 wicket at an average of 42 and strike rate of 24.
Mahedi's economy is 11.11, with an average of 50 and a strike rate of 27. He also picked 1 wicket only.
Also, Shakib tried his luck in the death but didn't succeed. He bowled only 2 overs and conceded 31 runs without any wickets.
That's the story of Bangladesh's frontline bowlers at the climax. This haunted them badly in the Asia Cup and will do in the World T20, too, unless they do something about it.
Maybe some alternatives are there. For example, Hasan Mahmud bowled 4 overs in death in the last two games against Zimbabwe. He conceded 29, which seems much better than others and picked 3 wickets at the same time, 2nd most for seamers in that time.
And then comes Mahmudullah Riyad. Looking at his numbers, it seems astonishing that why Bangladesh carry him without utilizing him here.
He bowled only 15 deliveries in the death over in the last 12 months, conceded only 19 and took 4 wickets, the highest after Shoriful.
If Bangladesh keeps him in the team, which is most likely, they should explore this option.
Another option is Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, who is knocking at the national team's door. He did well in the camps and performed in the last BPL. Everyone remembers his last over against Dhaka.
As nothing is working, the team management should try this. How worse can it be anyway?
Especially when there are 4 T20Is right before the World Cup against New Zealand and Pakistan, BCB should definitely explore these options.
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