Tigers’ batting brings back memories of early 2000s

From 22 for no loss to getting bundled out for a meagre 84 in 18.2 overs -- the entire scenario brought back memories of the regular batting woes of Bangladesh in the early 2000s. This happened in Abu Dhabi yesterday in a game that the Tigers lost to South Africa by six wickets, officially ending Bangladesh's bid for their maiden T20 World Cup semifinal quest with still a game remaining.

Unlike most of the matches of the tournament, yesterday's pitch provided ample help to seamers with a lot of bounce, carry and elements for swing off the pitch. That saw the Proteas quicks -- Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Dwaine Pretorius -- corner the Tigers to a place from where bouncing back to the game seemed improbable, just like in the early days of Bangladesh cricket. 

When one falls, the others follow -- it was a common saying surrounding the Tigers back in the days. The adage rang true yesterday when Bangladesh batters, especially the top order, had no answers to South Africa's pace prowess as most of the batters surrendered meekly.

It started with Mohammad Naim, who himself was to be blamed for his downfall as his attempted slog across the line only gave an easy catch to Reeza Hendricks at midwicket.

Soumya Sarkar followed suit in the very next delivery. An inswinging fuller-length delivery from Rabada caught the left-hander by surprise, having him trapped in front in the very first ball.

Nortje and Rabada then kept on piling up the pressure, with deliveries aimed at the body of the batters. That attacking strategy got the better of Mushfiqur Rahim and skipper Mahmudullah Riyad, both undone by bouncers cramping them up for room and forcing edges off the bat which were taken at gully and point. It was as if the haunting days when Bangladesh batters struggled to find answers to deliveries clocked at 140kmph or above were back.

If the wickets of Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur were not enough to send the fans down the aching memory lane, Afif Hossain's poor judgement at a precarious situation probably did the trick. One would think Bangladesh being in the international cricket arena for over 20 years would have injected some sense into the players and the cricketers would know better than to charge down the track and lose the stumps trying to play a wayward shot across the line.

However, Afif proved it wrong and departed in this exact fashion leaving the Tigers five down and on the brink of humiliation.

Can Bangladesh play out the 20 overs in its entirety? Just like the old times, this was the question that probably was lingering in the minds of the fans. And as it often happened back in the days, Bangladesh failed in that regard and were bundled out even before the overs could be completed.