Bangladesh have been trying to nail a T20 World Cup for a long time. As far back as 2012, they decided that playing plenty of T20Is just before the tournament will give them a good chance. But like a student who tries to cram the night before the exam, things never really came together.
Their record in T20Is is not very good, and it gets much worse in World Cups. Only one of their seven wins since 2007 has come against a traditional big team. They lost to Hong Kong in the 2014 edition at home, while in 2016, they missed the mother of all open nets against India.
This time too Bangladesh come into the tournament with cracks, despite recently seeing off Australia and New Zealand at home. On tailor-made home pitches that helped the spinners, the visiting batters had very little clue what was happening - but so did the home batters, and it seems that has hurt Bangladesh. Their shock loss to Scotland in the first round showed signs of their batters’ lack of confidence. The top order was gone quickly, before Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan stalled for several overs, trying to rebuild. That didn’t work out and then captain Mahmudullah, the team’s best T20 batter, couldn't time his big hits.
Their subsequent wins over Oman and PNG ensured a spot in the Super 12s, but Bangladesh have to play a lot better and with more consistency in this round if they are to reach the tournament goal they have set for themselves: reach the semi-finals.
Bangladesh came into the tournament with three consecutive series wins over Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand. But they lost two out of three warm-up games earlier this month, before crashing against Scotland in the first round. They recovered against Oman and PNG.
Mushfiqur, Mahmudullah and Shakib remain in charge of Bangladesh’s batting, despite the emergence of several talented batters in recent years. If these three fire together, expect a big score. If they have a combined bad day, the whole team seems to slow down.
Mohammad Naim, Liton Das and Afif Hossain have shown signs of standing on their own, but don’t seem to be quite there yet. In Liton’s case, he has been around for six years, but consistency hasn’t been his companion.
Spin usually dominates Bangladesh’s bowling plans, particularly with Shakib as the leader of the attack. The left-arm spinner’s varied pace and flight and subtle turn translate into the most bankable four overs. Mustafizur Rahman is their best fast bowler, a proper T20 star who has excelled at the IPL. He has been around a long while, yet he still bamboozles the best of batters. Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Saifuddin complement him with pace and variations, while the left-arm quick Shoriful Islam is waiting for his first opportunity.
There are very few cricketers in the world currently who can bring as much to his side as Shakib Al Hasan does to Bangladesh. He is the team’s best player for sure, but he is also pushing for bigger honours. He had a great 2019 Word Cup - he was one of three batters to tally over 600 runs, to go with 11 wickets - but after that, he had the low of the ICC suspension to contend with.
Since his return, he has worked his way back to his best, recently breaking the record for most T20I wickets. In the UAE, Shakib will bat at No. 3, and be expected to bowl in different situations with his new shorter run-up. He bowled superbly at the IPL and has brought his form with the ball over to the T20 World Cup. His batting will be all the more important to Bangladesh in the absence of Tamim Iqbal.
