Bangladesh鈥檚 T20 World Cup campaign ended up being a disappointment with their final game, but their younger generation of players showed what direction they needed to head in the coming years.
Bangladesh鈥檚 best three players in the tournament 鈥� Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, and Towhid Hridoy 鈥� are all 23 years old or younger, and that they were the best performers showed that the Tigers need to plan with them in the forefront, instead of holding on to their legends on whom grandfather time has taken his toll.
Towhid scored 153 runs in the tournament, which is not much but still ended up being the highest run-scorer for the team, showing the fragile state of Bangladesh batting.
His 20-ball 40 was the match-winning knock as Bangladesh hobbled to a win, and if not for his three consecutive sixes against Wanindu Hasaranga, the Tigers could have been in grave danger. His 34-ball 37 against South Africa was also a fluent knock, and while it did not ensure victory, it had brought Bangladesh very close.
Even in the Tigers鈥� final match against Afghanistan, where they needed to chase down 116 in 12.1 overs to qualify for the semi-finals, Towhid was the only batter to have shown the intent to chase it down in the stipulated overs despite being sent in at number six, while his teammates displayed little effort.
In the bowling department, Rishad was a revolution for Bangladesh with his leg-spin. He picked up 14 wickets and bowled match-winning spells against Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, alongside crucial wickets in other games.
The leggie showed impressive turn, bounce, and use of flight across games and was not afraid to bowl tough overs, and it was impressive how he came back after being hit for boundaries as he came back strong.
Sakib was brilliant in the group stage, as he picked up three against South Africa and four against Nepal. However, what was more impressive was the aggression he displayed on the field and with the ball, constantly attacking the batters to gain wickets, and never shying away from a fight.
While Towhid and Sakib鈥檚 Under-19 team-mate Tanzid Hasan Tamim had a difficult World Cup, the overall tournament still shows that Bangladesh need to bank on their younger generation.
The likes of Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan have constantly proved costly to the team in this tournament, while skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto鈥檚 shortcomings in this format was exposed often as well.
Bangladesh have players in their pipeline such as Parvez Hossain Emon, Habibur Rahman Sohan, and Zakir Hasan to take up the place in the XI in terms of batting, and it is high time that they stop the revolving door of the same players being dropped and brought back and invest in the newer generation to finally progress in the format.
