Bangladesh reset their batting, but it's come too late for World Cup of regret

Mohammad Ashraful made a noise with his hands that only batters watching other batters can. He stroked his right hand with his left palm the way Mahmudullah had made his wrist-work to play the square-cut off Mohammad Wasim in the 17th over. Ashraful is working as an analyst for one of the Bangladeshi TV channels. Obsessive about statistics and an acute observer, Ashraful quietly nodded his head to mimic Mahmudullah's head position too.

It was followed by loud applause from Ashraful who was sitting in the gallery below the Eden Gardens press box. Shortly afterwards, Litton Das tried to smack Usama Mir over the covers, but checked himself. Mahmudullah showed him how later in the over with a blast through the covers. Ashraful appreciated the shot, saying that either you hit it hard to this cover fielder's left or you play that same ball down to mid-off for a single.

"But, what can we do now?" Ashraful exclaimed.

Indeed, as Bangladesh's World Cup campaign reached its seventh match, regret hung in the air. A bit of common sense and smarter planning could have provided a different perspective to this tournament. Instead it is one that speaks loudly of the Bangladesh team management's rigidity with their batting line-up.

They finally got back to their conventional batting line-up against Pakistan, seven matches into the tournament. ESPNcricinfo understands that the "revert-to-type" instruction came from all the way up in the chain of command. BCB president Nazmul Hassan, after Bangladesh's 87-run defeat against Netherlands, reportedly told the team management to get the batters in their right positions, and continue that pattern for the remaining matches.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah went back up the order for the first time this year. Mahmudullah was batting above No. 6 for the first time since August 2022. Mushfiqur was back at No. 4 after seven months. The selectors have always maintained that they "rested" Mahmudullah after the England series back in March, even though that excuse was condescending to the man himself. Mushfiqur was given the No. 6 role to slog his way through the last ten overs, despite reaching his batting peak at No. 4.

The changes meant that Najmul Hossain Shanto batted at three, with Shakib at six, and Towhid Hridoy and Mehidy Hasan Miraz at 7 and 8. This line-up might have worked but for Litton's soft dismissal, or if Shakib Al Hasan's 64-ball struggle had delivered greater reward. These regrets are nothing new to Bangladesh's World Cup campaign. Even when Mahmudullah was looking set on Tuesday, he ended up receiving Shaheen Shah Afridi's best ball of the day.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Shakib was asked by Ramiz Raja about the rejig - although the specific query was whether he'd consider a return to No.3, the position from which he made 606 runs at 86.57 at the 2019 World Cup. "I was batting in the top four and I hadn't scored runs, so my confidence was low too," Shakib replied. "Luckily I got some runs [today] and I'm feeling better so we can discuss it. At this moment, changing too many things gets difficult, but we have to keep moving forward and think of something which might work."

No member of the Bangladesh's hierarchy showed up in the press conference or the mixed zone, however. It would have been interesting to learn more about their batting plans, but the fact they promoted Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah, and sent Mehidy to No. 8 finally, spoke volumes about their mindset.

After Tamim Iqbal was jettisoned from the team late into the World Cup build-up phase, captain Shakib and coach Chandika Hathurusingha called all the shots. However, their plan to bring a changed identity to their batting approach in the World Cup now looks like cosmetic changes.

Towards the start of the tournament, they wanted Mehidy to be the enforcer, and leave Mushfiqur, Mahmudullah and Hridoy to deal with the death overs, but given that the Bangladesh openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das didn't fire in most of the matches, Mehidy was mostly firefighting bad starts. Shakib and Shanto never showed good form, while Mahmudullah seemed surplus to requirements, even though he now has 274 runs at 68.50. It is hard to fathom that he didn't play against England.

Shakib and Hathurusinghe simply didn't have a plan B. That may sound simplistic, and some might argue that Mehidy being shuffled around was proof that they were trying something. But it now seems clear that Mehidy's movement was their plan A. Bangladesh sacrificed their whole batting line-up to implement a shortcut that always looked like failing. True, Mehidy made that century against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, but how does one successful batting promotion prove that the rest of the batters are dispensable? It's beyond the understanding of many who follow Bangladesh cricket closely.

Instead, Bangladesh could have simply come to the World Cup with the tried and tested. Litton and Tamim have had a successful opening partnership, simply because of Tamim's evolved role as the banker at the top of the order. He rotates the strike to ensure Litton can play his natural game. Shanto would then have followed at No 3, followed by Shakib, Hridoy and Mushfiqur.

Then, the debate could have centred on playing the seventh specialist batter or using six bowling options. It had been working pretty well for Bangladesh over the previous two years, especially when the top six fired. With 24 wins from 39 matches from the start of 2021 until the start of the Asia Cup, they looked like a side that knew what their next move was going to be. Bangladesh were also winning close games as they had chosen to go with six bowlers on batting wickets too.

It is very hard to imagine everyone had a problem with Tamim. He fell out with the BCB chief Hassan, which shouldn't matter to the team's cricketing plans. Instead, Hassan first riled him with an interview, and then begged him to come back from retirement.

When they finally got rid of Tamim before the World Cup amid another embarrassing episode, Bangladesh believed that the team would soon forget Tamim's impressive leadership. He had forged a strong unit since Mashrafe Mortaza's resignation in 2020, bringing the team much success with his no-nonsense approach, and marrying well with Russell Domingo's approach to allow players room to think.

The same cannot be said about Shakib and Hathurusinghe. Both have struggled in their second stints as captain and coach respectively. This, despite BCB chief Hassan giving both the confidence and space to take their decisions. It is rare for Hassan to allow such freedom to the team management but perhaps it was because of Shakib's stature as a cricketer. Hathurusinghe too is well respected in the BCB's inner-circle. Now that the dust has settled, maybe it is time that someone in the BCB, perhaps the president himself, stepped up and asked the pair some tough questions.