Plenty changed, little gained

It took two new batters, a reshuffling of the batting line-up, a career-best T20I score from Tanzid Tamim, and Taskin Ahmed hitting a six without walking into his stumps for Bangladesh to finally cross the 150-run mark against the West Indies in their third attempt in the three-match T20I series in Chattogram on Friday.

The hosts crossed the 150-run threshold only just, getting bundled out for 151 in 20 overs in the dead-rubber -- a total the visitors chased down in 16.5 overs with half-centuries from skipper Roston Chase and Ackeem Auguste to take the series 3-0.

In the previous two matches, both of which ended in defeats, the Tigers made 149 all out and 135-8 respectively while chasing.

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To change their batting fortunes, the management dropped middle-order batters Tawhid Hridoy and Shamim Hossain, sent down opener Saif Hassan to No.4, and brought in Parvez Hossain Emon to open the innings and Nurul Hasan Sohan to bolster the middle-order.

But even after such wholesale changes, Bangladesh found themselves at nine down for 144 with just four deliveries left in the innings and No.11 Taskin on strike.

Thankfully for the hosts, Taskin dispatched a short delivery from Romario Shephard -- who had completed a hattrick the same over -- for a six, and that too without knocking the stumps with his boot as he had done in the series opener.

Tanzid, who was dropped twice, was the lone warrior for Bangladesh, making 89 off 62 balls -- nearly 59 percent of the total. He had hit a half-century in the second match as well -- 61 off 48 -- but found no support from the others in that game as well.

Depending on one batter to rescue the side is in no way a sustainable model for a team to do well; more batters have to put their hands up and execute their roles.

Bangladesh came into the West Indies series having won four T20I series on the trot, creating a sense that the Tigers have found the right balance in the shortest format.

But even during this period, Bangladesh's batting frailties were getting exposed every now and then. The side was getting rescued by individual performances like Tanzid's and by the bowling department, which has displayed adaptability and depth in recent times.

With a little over three months left before the next ICC T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, and just one T20I series on the horizon -- against Ireland at home this month -- there is simply no time left to try out other options in the batting department.

The management might bring in players like Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Saifuddin, who are part of the white-ball setup but not in the T20 squad right now, but other than that, the majority of the squad that is facing the Caribbean side will most likely represent Bangladesh in the mega event.

If nothing else, the West Indies series showed that one big innings is not enough to put up big totals. For a team like Bangladesh, every batter has to play their role efficiently to get the job done. If not, sporadic success is the best the Tigers can hope for in the long run.