Old habits die hard for new-era Bangladesh

Bangladesh's panic while, and ultimate failure in, chasing a target of 136 against Pakistan was consistent with their performance in similar positions in major tournaments in the recent past. Unlike previous occasions, though, Bangladesh showed fight on and off the field for most of the Asia Cup, leading up to the match against Pakistan, where they unravelled.

They didn't panic when facing group-stage elimination against Afghanistan, successfully defending a modest total. They sailed past Sri Lanka. Then they showed courage in resting four players against India, in what felt like a practical move even though it ended in defeat.

Not to forget, this was Bangladesh's first tournament since their most experienced cricketers went out of the picture. So a bunch of new(ish) faces had to take up some of the most important batting spots in the XI.

Ten out of the 16 members in the Asia Cup squad had made their T20I debuts after 2021. Several players were also from Bangladesh's Under-19 World Cup-winning team from 2020, so the young look was a throwback to their teams from the mid-2000s, when the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim were coming up.

They showed glimpses of courage and there was some original thinking.

But, when a place in the final was there for the taking, they panicked. It was as if the ghosts of tournaments past was haunting Bangladesh.

The long-term strategy, however, looks like it's taking shape, even if it's not fully effective yet.

Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain and Saif Hassan have gone for broke in the powerplay with varying degrees of success. The rest of the batters, too, have picked up a six-hitting approach that is unfamiliar to Bangladesh. They have struck 143 sixes in 21 T20Is this year, having hit 122 sixes in 24 matches last year, a leap of faith of sorts. But while they have gained there, their overall strike rate, as a result of poor strike rotation, hasn't seen a similar level of improvement, which makes the improvement one-dimensional.

Not unexpectedly, their bowling was Bangladesh's biggest strength at the Asia Cup. Their varied pace attack kept them in dominant positions, while the spin attack, which no longer relies on left-arm spin, was bright, with legspinner Rishad Hossain and offspinner Mahedi Hasan regular contributors. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, too, came up with a match-winning performance.

Bangladesh have also shown that they can rotate between fast bowlers and spinners according to conditions, oppositions, and fitness levels.

But, while resting Taskin Ahmed against India, a bold and practical move given the less-than-24-hour turnaround before their next game, made sense, axing Tanzid from the Pakistan game was the opposite. Tanzid has gone after the bowling in the powerplay for the last 18 months, so to forego the plan in a virtual knockout game was a betrayal of their own plans.

They changed their batting line-up, seemingly to allow Mahedi to attack fast bowling in the powerplay, but while Mahedi has undertaken this role in the past, he doesn't have the track record against quality fast bowling to justify it.

The way Mahedi, Jaker Ali and Nurul Hasan batted against Pakistan was evidence of their panic. Old habits. It was the same in the T20 World Cup last year when Litton Das and Mahmudullah looked all at sea in a virtual knockout game against Afghanistan.

Bangladesh's exit from the Asia Cup also proved that they are only competitive in bilateral series. They have got out of tight spots there in the past, but they can't seem to get out of similar situations in multi-team tournaments.

They will return to the grind against Afghanistan later this week in six white-ball matches. Their leadership team - coaches and captains - must make some solid plans and firm decisions looking ahead to the T20 World Cup next year. They wouldn't want to go into the tournament without a strategy that works, but also be confident in that strategy to not desert it when it matters most. Till that happens, all we have is good planning but poor leadership under pressure.