After about a decade and a half, Bangladesh finally won a match in the Super 12s, or simply the second round of the T20 World Cup, beating Netherlands by just 9 runs.
There are some positives to take from the game, the most mentionable one being the disciplined and accurate bowling from the Taskin-Hasan duo. The display of Afif Hossain's ability to take the team to something defendable while recovering from deep trouble is also a positive. But the match also exposed many concerning factors of the team.
Firstly, Bangladesh didn't play 5 specialist bowlers to make sure that the team had one extra batter. Even though Bangladesh started well in the powerplay, a collapse in the batting order was inevitable. This strategy got exposed and certainly wouldn't work against tougher opponents.
Taskin Ahmed struck twice in the first couple of balls, followed by 2 brilliant runouts. Netherlands were 15/4, having lost Vikramjit Singh, Max ODowd and Bas de Leede, which was supposed to be a huge blow for the team.
From there, the game went to the last 2 deliveries, and that's where Bangladesh showed their shakiness. 16 overs were allotted for Taskin, Mustafizur, Hasan and Shakib, but the 5th and 6th bowlers Soumya and Mosaddek had economy rates of 9.7 and 14.0, having bowled 3 and 1 overs, respectively.
Against the stronger teams, Bangladesh are about to face in the next few days, the lack of a 5th specialist bowler would be a big problem.
The question arises, what policy should Bangladesh follow? Firstly, with proper bowling rotation, Soumya Sarkar can be counted on if he keeps things tighter since he won't have to bowl the death overs in every match.
Secondly, if another seamer (Ebadot or Shoriful) is brought into the scene, either Nurul Hasan Sohan or Yasir Ali would be dropped if the team wants to keep their opening pair the same. Since Nurul is the first-choice wicketkeeper and vice-captain, Yasir will have to pay the price in that case, which will decrease the strength of the batting order.
And lastly, a spinner, either Mehidy or Nasum, can be brought since both have been economical in their last T20I matches. But the fact that the spinners have been more expensive (8.88) in the Super 12s makes the entry of a spinner less likely to happen.
In any way, Bangladesh need to introduce one more specialist seamer without losing a batter, which is practically impossible. The management needs to act smartly according to the merit and ability of the players, take bold decisions and prioritise the conditions of the SCG before taking on South Africa.
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