Abdullah Al Mehdi

The body language of any sports team on the field is a good indicator of where the side stands mentally and from the beginning of the recently concluded World Cup, Bangladesh side have painted a picture of falling heads and dropping shoulders. Coming into the T20I series at home against Pakistan, the crisis appears to have deepened with captain Mahmudullah Riyad unable to facilitate the mental changes that are basic in the modern game.

Bangladesh Cricket Board’s attempt to restructure and reshape the T20 outfit following the World Cup debacle may appear a logical thing on surface, but a deeper look into the six changes made to the squad can only raise question marks over the whole process.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) revamp of the T20 side following the World Cup debacle in UAE involved quite a few changes, with the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim along with openers Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar making way for relatively new faces.

Bangladesh face South Africa today with the Tigers’ hopes all but gone following three straight losses to Sri Lanka, England and West Indies in the Super 12 stage.

When Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan spoke to media on Monday following the Tigers’ defeat against Scotland a day earlier, he cut a rather distraught figure, saying he could not quite grasp the reality of Bangladesh being defeated by an Associate nation in a prestigious tournament.

Bangladesh’s ‘shock’ defeat at the hands of Scotland in their opening Group B fixture of the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers, which came on the back of two losses in the preparation matches against Sri Lanka and Ireland, had created a rupture in the wall of confidence they seemed to have had following series wins against Australia and New Zealand at home.

A proper monsoon drencher welcomed those who made their way to the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur yesterday for the announcement of Bangladesh’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Just a few hours before the first T20I between Bangladesh and New Zealand began yesterday, Tamim Iqbal, who had been missing in action from the T20I line-up for the past 17 months, went live from his Facebook page and announced that he will not be available for the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE.

Bangladesh gear up for another T20I series without star batsman Tamim Iqbal but there is the air of him being there regardless, largely due to the fact that the that left-hander is battling injury issues ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup in two months’ time.

A fascinating but by no means unproblematic trend in Bangladesh cricket, one that has existed for some time, is how players make their back into the national side because others have performed badly. As in a game of musical chairs, players circle back into the team, but the problem in terms of team selection is how many players return without having performed in order to stake a claim.

The historic 4-1 series win against Australia was the Tigers’ most significant series win in the T20 format, considered to be Bangladesh’s Achilles heel.

Bangladesh ended the series as they began, dominating proceedings with the ball as they condemned Australia to their lowest-ever T20I score of 62 all out to clinch the five-match series 4-1 with Shakib Al Hasan cleaning up the tail.

Even amidst the most bizarre realities in football, it just does not get any more bizarre than this. With the world watching, the press conference that transpired at the Camp Nou yesterday, was about to puncture hopes -- the last shred of it anyway -- and leave Barcelona fans with a gaping vacuum with nowhere to escape.

Pacer Mustafizur Rahman was the saviour yesterday, helping Bangladesh complete a remarkable turnaround from a trying situation as they trumped Australia by 10 runs in the third T20I, in the process clinching their first ever series win over the men from down under.

“Man, he is a difficult customer. He is really good,” Ashton Agar said while wearing a smile that recognised that his side had its work cut out in dealing with Mustafizur Rahman’s cutters. Even for a spinner like Agar, it was something different.

Youngsters Afif Hossain and Nurul Hasan showed nerves of steel to propel Bangladesh from a difficult situation to their second successive win against Australia in the five-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

A nervy atmosphere had gripped the final moments of the Copa America final but as soon as the clock had stopped, Lionel Messi sank to his knees, his fists pumping the air as teammates rushed in to plunge into euphoria alongside him.

Mahmudullah Riyad’s Test career might be seeing a reversal of fortunes after a determined century against Zimbabwe was instrumental to Bangladesh being able to reverse their own fate in the ongoing one-off Test at Harare.

Nurul Hasan Sohan’s form this season in the Bangabandhu Premier Division League saw him earn a well-deserved call-up for the national team in all three formats for their upcoming tour of Zimbabwe, but given the lack of faith from the selectors in the past, question remains whether Sohan’s present form can make a difference this time.

With a cyclone hovering over the Bay of Bengal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s most experienced batsman in ODIs with the greatest number of matches under his belt, battled and steered his team through a very different kind of storm, finding the calm and assurance that Bangladesh most needed from his bat. Mushfiqur’s 127-ball 125, while running out of partners, accounted for more than half the team’s runs and helped the Tigers post a challenging 246 after electing to bat first.