Skipper Shakib Al Hasan said that the Tigers were not used to closing games, highlighting that a lack of experience in closing out tight situations had led to the result. Can Bangladesh now at least use the loss as a lesson and learn from its mistakes?

With 10 wickets in hand and 85 needed off nine overs, the match was in Bangladesh’s hand. But perhaps more clarity was needed about how to approach the target. Instability in terms of their roles often breeds new scenarios the players have not faced before. Bangladesh entered the World Cup after many failed experiments with the opening combination. While true that Bangladesh cannot prosper without experimenting with team combinations. Especially in T20Is where the concept of a batting order is loosley defined, some stability was required to give the players a more even footing in the World Cup.

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Bangladesh learnt which area they need to focus more on

The experiment with Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Sabbir Rahman in the opening slot did not go far. Thus, backup opener Najmul Hossain Shanto seemingly became a solution at this World Cup. Ironically, the opener who has created the most impact during this World Cup is Liton Das. Who had been played as the anchor at number three. Because Bangladesh picked five specialist bowlers in the playing eleven for the first time, they dropped Soumya Sarkar and not Shanto since the latter had scored runs in the previous game against Zimbabwe.

It was the safe option and it meant they also had to plan on sending Liton as the opener. Conversely however, they might have shifted the role of anchor to Shanto. Liton created the necessary impact, showing the application needed and scoring quickly. On the other hand, Shanto closed the face of his bat repeatedly during his knock and played the ball a lot further forward without using the crease to get more time against the pace and bounce on offer. It is pivotal to hand the role of anchor to someone who can make up for a lack of runs in the early overs.