Bangladesh national team produced a casual performance on Tuesday to concede a five-wicket defeat to USA – a side ranked 10 places below them – and a large chunk of the credit should go to skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, whose captaincy in the game asked several questions of whether the Tigers took the game seriously.
Bangladesh produced a poor batting effort to saw themselves end on 153-6, with Shanto contributing just three runs playing 11 balls.
However, the Tigers seemed to underestimate USA – something batter Harmeet Singh pointed at following the game – as Shanto handed the ball to Mahmudullah to bowl the first over.
Mahmudullah, since the start of 2022, has bowled just 4.2 overs in international cricket and while the decision might seem logical with USA having a left-handed opener, it is not because the Tigers had Mahedi Hasan in the XI and the off-spinner is accustomed to bowling in the powerplay, with him and Shoriful Islam generally opening the bowling for them in recent months.
Shanto’s bowling changes throughout the game made little sense, and in the death, it did not make any.
Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful went for runs in the 17th and 18th over – conceding 17 and 14 each – despite which Shanto used the former in the 19th over, which went for 15 and effectively ended the game.
The end Mustafiz was bowling from was a surprise as he was going with the wind, meaning his cutters did not stop as much as they would have from the other end, and it only seemed that the Bangladesh skipper did not take that matter into account.
‘We go down without a fight, it won’t send a good message,’ Harmeet said after the match.
 ‘We know the wicket, as this is our home condition. We know everything about this ground. It is a T20 format. Couple of hiccups, we push them in the powerplay. Then you can corner them and close out the game.’
Harmeet also believed that Bangladesh made a tactical error by choosing the wrong end for Mustafiz, who had derailed them with two wickets in the 12th over.
But switching ends meant the batters had the advantage of Prairie Valley’s high winds against the other bowlers. Mustafiz ended up conceding 32 runs in his last two overs.
‘We believed that Fizz will bowl against the wind overs but when I saw him bowl from the other end, with the wind, I thought we had a chance to sneak in a 20-run over from the other side,’ added Harmeet.
Then, with nine to defend, Shanto once again opted for Mahmudullah and paid the penalty.
All of that resulted in Bangladesh conceding the tie, and while Shanto took responsibility for the defeat saying that they failed in all three departments, and said they hoped to do better with the bat in the coming World Cup, starting on June 1.
‘We all know the top-order has to do well. The batters are working on it. Hopefully, we can come back well in the next game,’ said Shanto.
‘There is always room for improvement. Batters are working on improving their ability. Hopefully, they will turn it around in the World Cup.’