Bangladesh in T20Is: A slow middle-overs sloth

Bangladesh innings always appear to be slowing down rather than gaining pace through the middle-overs in T20Is.

Thursday's first T20I in Pallekele against Sri Lanka, that cumbersome pace was in full show, despite a platform being laid in the Powerplay.

Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan Tamim ensured that Bangladesh got off to a good start in the Powerplay, finishing the first six overs at 54 for one, on a surface where more fireworks were expected.

At the end of the 16th over, Bangladesh were 116 for four, meaning only 62 runs were added in those 10 overs in the middle. They lost three more wickets with that approach – one perhaps of comfort but not determination. They ended the innings with five wickets still in the bag and the likes of Rishad Hossain and Mohammad Saifuddin not getting a bat.

What happened in the middle overs?

Skipper Litton Das fell to a googly after an 11-ball 6. Emon, having plundered 38 off 22, perished to scoreboard pressure and then Tawhid Hridoy and Mohammad Naim eked out a 22-run partnership off 23 deliveries.

Naim, who, according to selectors, has reinvented himself, was asked to play a curious No. 4 role, possibly due to Jaker Ali's reported injury.

Naim stayed around for 29 deliveries, in fact finishing the innings. He found only two boundaries in his innings. A six in the 10th over was followed by a scooped four in the 17th over. In between, he had played 15 deliveries. He ended on a 29-ball 32, having played almost quarter of the team's deliveries.

Even when he got going with a six in the 10th over, it was the first boundary in 27 deliveries for Bangladesh since that Powerplay burst, an exhibit of how to not approach T20 batting.

Mehidy Miraz and Naim's stand of 46 from 36 did not altogether put the sail on the Bangladesh innings. It was courtesy of Shamim Hossain's five-ball 14 that Bangladesh reached 154 for five.

The batting approach questions the batting plan altogether. Was the fear of collapse so great that in the end staying at the crease and doing the bare minimum was considered to be a better ploy?

Naim, who between 2019 and 2022, had played 35 matches as opener, had batted at a strike-rate of 103.2, scoring 815 runs. His strike-rate was 56th worst in that period among openers who played at least 30 matches. It played a significant hand in him being dropped from T20Is.

On his return, a No. 4 role for an opener was always a tough ask. But in his approach, Naim brought back the same tendencies that were evident during that 2019-2022 period.

Even in middle-overs, T20I teams look to extend their advantage from Powerplay. Bangladesh's middle-overs sloth, with contribution from Litton, Hridoy, Naim and Miraz, mired in mystery.