Not all is lost as Tigers reach St Vincent

The Bangladesh team reached Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on Tuesday for their final two group matches of the ongoing T20 World Cup as they will face the Netherlands on June 13 before taking on Nepal on June 16 at Kingstown.

Bangladesh suffered an agonosing four-run defeat against South Africa in their second Group D game of the ongoing T20 World Cup at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Monday but the Tigers still possess a very good chance of making it beyond the group stages of mega T20 event.

Having played in all of the previous eight editions of the T20 World Cup, Bangladesh had very little to show for as their biggest achievement in the mega event came 17 years ago when they beat hosts West Indies in their tournament opener – the only time they beat a Test-playing nation before the Sri Lanka win in this edition -- in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007.

However, things are looking positive for the Tigers this time around. The Najmul Hossain Shanto-led Bangladesh, who were rocked just ahead of the T20 World Cup as they hit the nadir in the shortest format following a shocking 2-1 series defeat against the USA, have made a commendable turnaround result-wise.

Thanks to a two-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their tournament opener and a closely-fought game against the Proteas, Bangladesh are now second in the five-team group. With two points in two matches, Bangladesh remain just behind group leaders South Africa, who have all but confirmed their spot in the Super Eight with six points from three wins in as many games.

Bangladesh, who also have a positive net run-rate of 0.075, will now need to do what is expected of them in the final two group games -- beat associate nations the Netherlands and Nepal.

Meanwhile, things could get a bit tricky for Bangladesh if they go on to lose any one of their last two group-stage games as then the Tigers will have to depend on the results of some other fixtures going in their favour.

Shrugging off the close defeat they suffered against the Proteas, the Tigers will now need to grind harder and adapt to the different conditions in the Caribbean in order to avert any upset in their upcoming matches and have a smooth sailing into the Super Eight.