The recent series against Zimbabwe has again shown Bangladesh's incompetency as a T20 side. Somehow, this team is looking reluctant to improve in this format and clueless about finding ways to improve.
Their performance is nothing less than worrying with the T20 World Cup and Asia Cup on the horizon.
They've changed captains, openers, and team combinations, but nothing is improving. Their last roll-in die seems to be the recruitment of Sridharan Sriram, a prominent figure in IPL. His contract is until the World Cup.
Yet the question remains of ways Bangladesh could look to improve in T20s.
Everyone might remember last year before the World Cup. The series wins against Australia, and New Zealand is famous for all the negative reasons.
Inviting a team with irregular players in both cases and playing on a below-par pitch just helped Bangladesh win matches, but nothing improved for what matters.
The sole purpose of this approach was to win some matches and gain confidence. It might have been the case had done correctly. But poor execution backfired their tactics.
Yet Bangladesh should try this approach again but in a different way.
According to current ICC rankings, Bangladesh is in 9th place in the T20s, just leading the likes of Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, UAE, Ireland, etc.
Whatever the ranking says, everyone knows the reality. These teams are no less than Bangladesh in this format, maybe even better in some cases.
Afghanistan has won 10 out of their last 6 T20Is, which includes a series drawn against Bangladesh. Ireland's recent performances against the likes of India, New Zealand and South Africa have been heavily praised by everyone.
It was a huge upset when Zimbabwe couldn't qualify for the T20 World Cup last time. However, this time they qualified by winning the qualifying stage. Since the last World Cup, they've won 9 out of 16 games, most of them are in the qualifiers.
Still, their brand of cricket is more suited for T20s than Bangladesh. Not to mention, they've beaten Bangladesh eventually.
Also, the likes of Namibia--who impressed in the last World Cup, Netherlands, and UAE are gaining some attention.
So maybe, Bangladesh need to step back a little. They must stop thinking of themselves as a big team and play more with the abovementioned teams.
Especially when they lose to Zimbabwe and never won a series against Afghanistan, it's not that big a demand.
They should start playing more series with these teams. Maybe tri-nation or four-nation tournaments will work. The point is, Bangladesh need to learn to win against them regularly. They should create a habit of playing a brand of cricket which goes with the T20s at least.
They should pass this level of T20I first and then look to beat teams like Sri Lanka, Windies and others.
It would be a big backward step, but a step towards the right direction.
