Tanzid’s charmed ODI run and Bangladesh cricket’s obsession with talent

Talent, or at least the perception of having talent, can get you a much longer leash than others in Bangladesh cricket: Tanzid Hasan Tamim's brief ODI career so far, is a testament to it.

Levelled head, high back-lift, shots all around the park and the ability to clear the ropes by just extending conventional cricketing strokes -- Tanzid really does look the part.

The start of his T20I career, by Bangladeshi standards, has been promising. An average nearing 25-and-a-half, a strike rate of over 125, is nothing to marvel at by global standards, but in this part of the world, these numbers place him comfortably above the average.

But in the 50-over format, for whatever reason, things have not worked out so far for Tanzid.

There have been sparks of brilliance, which have been followed by a period of mediocrity -- a scoring pattern that at this point should really be christened as the Bangladeshi way of surviving in international cricket.

Read more

What ails the Tigers?

He has batted 27 times in the format for Bangladesh, opening the innings in 26 of them, and averages an embarrassing 20.66 -- the same as the Tiger's left-arm spinner and lower order batter Nasum Ahmed.

His strike rate of 99.28 is impressive, no doubt, but even Nasum, batting at No.8-9, has a scoring rate of more than 90, and nobody is running a campaign to slot him into the top order.

Even in the ongoing Afghanistan series, Tanzid has fared poorly, making 10 and 0 respectively in the two matches so far, getting bested by Azmatullah Omarzai on both occasions.

The surprising part is that since graduating from age-level cricket, Tanzid has not really scored mountains of runs in the 50-over format anywhere, not in international cricket, nor in domestic.

After 99 List-A knocks, he averages just 28.81 at a strike rate of 96.13, numbers that correlate with how his ODI career has panned out so far.

Tanzid's numbers are not up to par, they have not been so for around two years, still he has regularly featured in the format for the Tigers, and chances are, he will continue getting more opportunities in the future.

Why, you ask? Because that's the Bangladeshi way, at least if you are an opening batter and if you're name is Tamim.

The uncanny parallels

Nostalgia is a funny thing, it only shows a rose-tinted version of what had actually happened, conveniently masking over the rough parts.

For instance, when thinking about how Tamim Iqbal's international career began, most would remember how he burst onto the scenes with a statement half-century against India in the 2007 ODI World Cup -- a match the Tigers won.

But 26 innings into his ODI career, Tamim's average was actually lower than the likes of Javed Omar and Shahriar Nafees.

Why 26 innings, you ask, it's because that's exactly how many times Tanzid has opened for Bangladesh in ODIs till now.

At that point of his career, Tamim averaged a mere 23.23, which is still better than Tanzid's 20.84.

Read more

Bangladesh playing Rashid’s reputation, not his bowling: Mushtaq

So, both Tamims had a rough start to their ODI careers average wise. But the parallels don't end there.

Both of them hit their maiden ODI half-century against India in a World Cup match -- Tanzid had done it in Dharamshala in the 2023 ODI World Cup, making a 43-ball 51.

After 26 innings as opener, both had scored exactly four half-centuries, three away and one at home, and were yet to reach the three-figure mark.

Their fifty at home soil came in Chattogram -- Tamim had made an 82 against South Africa in March 9, 2008, while Tanzid made 84 off 81 against Sri Lanka -- his highest ODI innings right now as it was Tamim's at the point of time.

These are all statistical parallels, amusing without really revealing anything.

The most telling similarity between their ODI careers, however, is both were given an extended leash to succeed -- a luxury not afforded to others.

The fixation on talent

Till now, only eight batters have made 500 or more runs opening the innings for Bangladesh in ODIs.

If these batters are listed in an ascending order by their averages 26 innings into their careers as openers, it would be as follows: Soumya Sarkar (36.78), Anamul Haque (35.42), Litton Das (32.88), Imrul Kayes (32.58), Shahriar Nafees (31.68), Javed Omar (23.91), Tamim Iqbal (23.23) and Tanzid Hasan Tamim (20.84).

Tamim was the worst off in the list, till Tanzid showed up.

Read more

Too many cooks for BCB broth?

But having a low average didn't keep him from getting more chances than others, as he remained with the side as an automatic choice, while others kept getting dropped after a few poor showings.

The overwhelming faith on Tamim did pay off as he ended his career as the most prolific run-scorer in ODIs for Bangladesh.

But just because it worked in Tamim's case, doesn't make it a good practice.

The cost of obsession

Tanzid, like his namesake, is supremely talented and could end up serving Bangladesh cricket for a long time, and carving out an impressive ODI career for himself in the process.

But even then, this practice of earmarking talented players at a young age, backing them to the tilt come what may and treating others as secondary, is not healthy.

This approach creates division amongst the players, as some start feeling irreplaceable while others scared that one misstep will cost them their careers.

That is not the environment that nurtures world beaters, all it breeds is mediocrity, something there is already too much of in Bangladesh cricket.