History asks Bangladesh batsmen to step up

"Aren't you going to join us? We are just going to play for ten minutes." It was the day before the first ODI in Mirpur and Shakib Al Hasan was trying to catch the attention of Bangladesh's captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Mushfiqur Rahim, who were in deep conversation.

Mashrafe was animated, with his hand around Mushfiqur, who simply listened and sometimes replied. Five minutes later the mini-meeting broke as if something had been decided between the two.

What it was, however, is still not evident. Mushfiqur made 24 in the first ODI and didn't get to bat in the second one. It has been 13 innings since his last fifty in any format. When questioned about Mushfiqur's form, Mashrafe told the critics to be patient. There may be some concern about the dip in runs, but it is not viewed as loss of batting form. Besides, there is that finger injury to take into consideration and publicly it has been said Mushfiqur will be the one who takes the call about giving up the gloves.

Mushfiqur's last slump was from December 2011 to November 2012 - 18 innings in which he averaged 22.53. He has gone through spans of 20 (March to December 2010), 22 (December 2008 to August 2009) and 33 (July 2007 to October 2008) innings without a fifty across formats. But back then, he used to bat lower down the order and so had limited opportunities to bat in any case.

Mashrafe has also had to tackle other issues: his decision at the field in the first ODI (he looked irritated and said it was pointless talking about the toss all the time), their Champions Trophy 2017 qualification ("It is becoming too much for us"), the BCB president's sudden sermon before the second ODI (which delayed training by 75 minutes) and some friendly fire on social media towards Tamim Iqbal.

What all of that has done is hide the fact that only Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah tackled South Africa's pace attack properly on Sunday. But in the first ODI, Mahmudullah missed a straight ball and Soumya popped a catch cover. Litton Das' injured right hand is no longer a concern, but his penchant for short knocks is. The basic problem has been that their footwork hasn't been effective. Tamim tried to overcompensate by running at the bowlers, but he has only five runs from two innings.

This after the make-up of the bowling attack had to be compromised to accommodate the extra batsmen. It doesn't help that Bangladesh don't pick up as many singles as they should. Even after watching Faf du Plessis use them to make a match-winning contribution in the first T20.

Mashrafe too said his tactics as a fielding captain was to stop the opposition from getting ones and twos. He thought it helped a batsman settle better than hitting boundaries. It may well be a veiled message to his own batsmen, who tend to be too reliant in finding fours.

Bangladesh are at the end of a long season. They have put together a pretty strong run since October 2014; one of their longest periods of sustained success even. If the batsmen can come good in one more ODI, they will win a series against South Africa and claim another entry into great performances in Bangladesh cricket history. If they don't, it wouldn't be the end of the world. They will just have to work that extra bit harder next time.