|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladesh batting woes continues despite brilliance of Mushfiqur Rahim helped them to post a reasonable total on the board in their must-win second game of the three-match ODI’s series against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium on Monday.

Bangladesh had come to Sri Lanka for the three-match ODI series with a confident batting department. The side was driven with confidence from its performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

The Tigers in the 10-nation tournament had smashed records with the bat which include chasing the highest total by the team in the event history – 322 against West Indies.

However, coming into the island nation the Bangladesh batting has been left exposed in the first two matches particularly the top order. Wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim came to the rescue in both the games, scoring 67 in the first and remaining unbeaten on 98 to aid Bangladesh put a defendable 238 in the second ODI on Sunday. But it cannot overshadow the concern which exists in the Bangladesh dressing room.

The openers in shape of Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar had struggled though out the World Cup but then they had a Shakib Al Hasan blistering in-form to revive the innings.

In Colombo, the struggle for the openers continued but with no Shakib on leave the job at number was given to Mohammad Mithun. The right-handed batsman had built some expectation with a 91-run innings in the practice game but not when it mattered Mithun despite having the top order batting experience could score only 10 and 12 runs in the first and the second game respectively.   

However the concern has been bigger with Tamim, Soumya and Mahmudullah. Tamim, the stand-in Bangladesh captain for the series, in the two matches has scored only 19 and get dismissed from bowled out – the same dismissal in his last six innings. With Tamim the discussion has been simply for not being able to deliver to his standard. In the last 10 ODIs Tamim has scored 254 runs with 62 runs against Australia in the World Cup as the highest.  

The southpaw carries the badge of the best opener for the country to produce he has not been able to deliver when it mattered the most, in the World Cup, and still struggling to come out from it. Occasions have been many when Tamim was seen to bounce back having his back to the wall and something similar was being expected when the team travelled to the island. Getting starts has been a problem for the Bangladesh opener. In most of the innings he got off the mark decently but failed to build the innings.

With Soumya the picture is somewhat similar to Tamim, of having scored three half centuries in 16 ODIs while his senior partner played 17 this year. Soumya was on fire in the tri-nations ODI series in Ireland before the World Cup but since then he has been dealing with the pale patch.