A fresh reality check on old T20I shortcomings

The third T20I between Bangladesh and India on Saturday in Hyderabad was a dead rubber, with the hosts already up by 2-0 in the series. From a Bangladeshi perspective, the main point of interest in the match was whether the Tigers could put on an improved showing, especially on the batting front.

They did put in a better effort with the bat, posting 164-7 on the board – their highest total in the series – but were nowhere near catching up to what India had done in the previous innings, which had pretty much been the story of the entire series.

Batting first, India had posted 297-6 – the highest T20I score in a match between two Test-playing nations.

Sanju Samson scored a 40-ball ton, his maiden one in the format. He alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Riyan Parag and Hardik Pandya unleashed carnage over Bangladesh, the likes of which they had never endured before in T20Is.

The lengths of the bowlers gave away Bangladesh's inexperience in Indian conditions throughout the series and familiar patterns of batting collapses and bowlers letting the opposition off the hook were also present.

The top-order collapsed in the first T20I. The bowlers started well in the second game but then lost the plot and the batters once again disappointed.

In the third T20I, the bowlers were rudderless when put under pressure and the batting was also nothing to write home about. The true bounce that was evident in Hyderabad allowed for shots that are not seen in Bangladeshi surfaces, even from international stars.

Liton Das and Towhid Hridoy showed they can do better on flat tracks such as Hyderabad's but overall the team looked ill-equipped in both batting and bowling fronts to do well on such surfaces.

"Overall, there were a lot of deficiencies. We don't play on these kinds of wickets. I am not trying to give an excuse but the more we play on tracks like these we will improve," Hridoy said after Saturday's match.

With such performance issues existent within the squad and veterans Mahmudullah Riyad and Shakib Al Hasan gone from T20Is, it will be a challenge for the selectors to identify the required profiles for the format.

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) – the tournament usually used to gauge T20 talents in the country – is set to begin in December.

Hridoy, who staked his claim in the national side with BPL performances, did not want to compare the tournament to the Indian Premier League (IPL), after Bangladesh got subjected to an IPL-like battering in Hyderabad.

"I don't want to compare BPL with IPL. We have to improve our skill, it's not just about the wickets," he said when asked if he expected flatter wickets in BPL.

The three-match series against a relatively under-strength India side showed how far off Bangladesh are from the pinnacle of T20Is.

The wickets back home have been a major talking point throughout the series. Having tried to secure home advantage, like they did in the back-to-back series against Australia and New Zealand in 2021, Bangladesh have fallen off the cart when it comes to big hitting and the confidence batters need to go all out simply has not developed.

"It's not that we are lagging behind a lot but our execution needs to develop with both bat and ball on such flat surfaces," Hridoy said.

With eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup, the Tigers have to find players who can be their X factors in T20s. In that regard, the India series was an eye opener but such reality checks had come before.