How Bangladesh became a shadow of themselves at the World Cup

As the travelling Bangladeshi fans gather around for some tea in central Kolkata on Monday evening, the collective struggles of England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the World Cup is helping lessen the blow for them. India beating England by 100 runs doesn't quite have the same feels as Netherlands beating Bangladesh, but a wee bit of schadenfreude is still worth their while.

There were high hopes last year when Bangladesh automatically qualified to this World Cup. They ultimately finished third in the ICC ODI Super League, a position that then captain Tamim Iqbal had targeted before the cycle had begun in 2021.

"We took up the qualification process very seriously," he said in November. "We knew we had some away series too. We didn't want to wait till the very end to qualify. Going into the 2023 World Cup, we definitely want to do really well. If we qualify as one of the top three or four teams, it makes sense talking about wanting to play in the semi-finals or finals. If you go in as say the No. 4 team, it means you have done well over 20-23 games. For a team like us, it would give us some confidence."

Tamim saying what he did then made a lot of sense. Bangladesh had crushed South Africa in the deciding game in their ODI series last year. They won easily in the West Indies. They fought back from improbable situations against Afghanistan and India.

Six games into the actual World Cup, though, that statement just sounds off. That Bangladesh were playing well through 2022 is a distant memory. Even those who had performed well, look a shadow of themselves.

It all began earlier this year when they lost the ODI series against England. Their meek approach against the reigning world champions wasn't made into a big deal at the time but it seems to have followed them to India.

There was a definite drop of form despite Bangladesh beating England in the T20Is and then beating Ireland quite comfortably in both the home and away series. A newly-introduced rotation policy also left captain Tamim unsure of what his best combination was for the World Cup ahead. The cracks began to show again when they lost a series to Afghanistan in July, though the consensus is Tamim's retirement drama played a big role in that defeat.

The Asia Cup wasn't a convincing campaign and things got worse against New Zealand last month, but there was leeway there. Bangladesh were using those matches to prepare for the World Cup so that was more important than the results.

Still, the up-and-down run into the tournament hadn't done the team any favours and coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and captain Shakib Al Hasan had started to underplay their chances in interviews and press conferences. Perhaps they knew what was about to happen.

Litton Das, the poster child of the new Bangladesh only last year, has become an example of their inconsistency. Najmul Hossain Shanto's great form of the last 12 months has totally deserted him. Tanzid Hasan is being given time to learn and grow but some of the ways he's been dismissed aren't helping his cause.

The BCB has contributed to this mess too. Had the board dealt with Tamim with a little more care, he would've been at this World Cup, offering stability at the top of the order. To add to that, two players whom the board thought were past their prime are the two who have shown the way forward. ESPNcricinfo had learned back in March that the BCB was planning to move on from Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah. Fortunately for them, that didn't come to pass.

The Bangladesh management has put more faith in someone like Mehidy Hasan Miraz, whose surprising batting form has led to his being shuttled up and down the batting order. And while there may be merit in using him to disrupt the opposition's plans, it still led to other more established players batting out of position. It was also not a good look that a bowler who can bat was being given that much freedom when Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah, who are much more capable run-scorers, got stuck to Nos. 6 and 7.

For many the buck will stop with Bangladesh's batting unit for their poor World Cup performance. Except for the first match against Afghanistan and the first 90-odd minutes against India, they haven't looked like a collective that can chase successfully or set up a good total.

The main characters - Hathurusinghe and Shakib - are not new to the scene. Hathurusinghe returned to the Bangladesh job in February. He took over from a very successful Russell Domingo, who had a decent time in terms of win percentage but fell out with the BCB directors on many aspects. Hathurusinghe is a BCB favourite, who was approached to return to the job he left in 2017, several times.

Shakib is the country's greatest sportsperson, but the pre-World Cup interview he gave, where he rounded on Tamim, was bad timing. It had the potential to distract the team from the job on the field and, after the loss to Netherlands on Saturday, Shakib ended up admitting it himself.

How the BCB and the Bangladesh team management couldn't prevent a senior player going after another senior player in the press is a topic for a different day. But ahead of their seventh match in the World Cup, how the batting problem could never be solved remains a troublesome mystery. As much as the batters' inconsistency and poor form is going to be questioned, the team management's experimentation and shortcomings will also be under the spotlight.