Despite having an exciting pace bowling and a stable spin bowling department, Bangladesh are heading into the Champions Trophy with a big concern over their top-order batting.
As the tempo of the 50-over game has changed for almost a decade now, a big innings or big partnerships from the top order has become more and more crucial.
When you bat on a flat track, ie, on a high-scoring pitch, no matter if you are setting up a target or chasing one, one team has to get a substantial contribution from the upper order鈥攖hat is, from the first three batters or first two wickets, as they generally have chances to bat in the first powerplay.
But Bangladesh often find it hard to do so, as they often fail to build big partnerships from the upper order. As a result, they fall behind others.
As Tamim Iqbal became irregular due to his injury and subsequently retired, the task became more difficult for the Tigers.
Since the start of 2022, Bangladesh have the lowest batting average in the top order (number one, two, and three batters) among the eight participating teams in this Champions Trophy.
They have only managed to average 31.46, whereas Indian top-order batters have scored at an average of 49.28 in this timeframe. The gap is evidently significant.
Bangladesh not only are behind in terms of personal batting average, but they also have the lowest average for the first and second wicket partnership (34) since 2022 among the eight teams participating in the marquee event that starts on Wednesday.
They only got eight 100-run partnerships in this time for the first two wickets鈥攁lso the lowest in the aforementioned criteria.
They have been struggling to find a stable opening partnership, and that has been costing them. Bangladesh have had as many as 16 pairs opening for them since 2022.
They have played 56 matches in this time, meaning almost every 3.5 games there has been a change in the opening pair. No team has had this many.
India have had 14 opening pairs in this time, but they played more matches (64). They also saw 14 hundreds from their openers in this timeframe, whereas Bangladesh got three, which is also the lowest.
Bangladesh dropped Liton Das, the experienced opener from the Champions Trophy, and opted for uncapped Parvez Hossain as their third opener.
Soumya Sarkar and Tanzid Hasan are set to open the batting in the tournament as per chief national selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain.
Soumya has been averaging 39.09 and batting at a strike rate of 93.27 since making his comeback in the format in 2023. The left-hander hit one hundred and two fifties in 12 innings.
Tanzid, meanwhile, hasn鈥檛 got any hundreds since making his debut in 2023. The left-hander averaged only 20.65 in his first 20 innings.
The captain, who is also a left-hander, Najmul Hossain Shanto, is expected to come at three. Despite being out of form in the 20-over format, Shanto has been in fine form in the ODIs.
He has been averaging 45.64 at a strike rate of 84.30 since 2022 and hit three hundreds and nine fifties in 31 innings.
But Bangladesh will need more than Shanto contributing from the top order if they want to make an impact in the Champions Trophy.
