Once again, Bangladesh are back at the pinnacle of the format they are yet to crack, and once again, they face a mountain to climb with just a week in hand.
In their eight T20 World Cup outings, Bangladesh have never managed to reach the final four. They have never been in contention for that.
Generally, they reach the Super Eight/10/12 stage, and that ends up being that, but this time around, even that seems difficult.
Their preparations leading up to the World Cup was not, in any possible sense, good. They won their five-match home series against Zimbabwe 4-1, but none were dominating, and even though they called it a success, stating that they conducted the experiments they wanted to, their team performance, especially from their batters, left a lot to be desired.
Then came the nightmare in the USA. They faced the hosts hoping to boost their confidence, but two more sorry performances resulted in conceding the series, and even a dominating 10-wicket win in the final game could not cover their blemishes. Then, their warm-up match against the USA was also called off due to adverse weather conditions.
They have another warm-up game against India today, but the problems that they are facing have to do more with the ability of the team than the preparation leading to the tournament.
Bangladesh batters have struggled to score fast in recent months as none of their batters have a career T20I strike rate over 140, meaning the team does not possess the ability to score near or beyond 200 on a regular basis.
South Africa have the likes of Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, and David Miller in their team 鈥� all of whom strike the ball far with consistency 鈥� and up top, they have Quinton de Kock with a T20I strike rate of 138.
While Sri Lankan batters do not show that uptick in their stats, they have scored big regularly in recent times. In their last 10 T20Is where they batted first, they have scored below 150 only once and gone past the 200-mark twice.
Bangladesh simply lacks the necessary firepower. Despite captain Najmul Hossain Shanto鈥檚 repeated claims that the World Cup pitches would produce 160-180 runs on average, Bangladesh do not appear capable to doing so on a consistent basis.
On top of that, Bangladesh are yet to decide on what their opening combination will be, as they have to choose two from Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, and Tanzid Hasan Tamim, and if recent form is any suggestion, the right-hander is likely to be the one out, although whether choosing Tanzid for yet another big tournament without considerable experience will surely be a big question mark.
However, the overall batting line-up struggling adds some pressure on the Bangladesh bowling unit as well.
Both pacers and spinners have been in good form, but if the batting order keeps failing, they will have to work in overdrive to ensure that the team succeeds, but even that is a difficult task with Taskin Ahmed still recovering from a rib injury.
Bangladesh will have to win three games to qualify for the next stage, and curtains may fall if they lose to Sri Lanka as the distance in hard-hitting ability between Bangladesh and South Africa is monumental, posing the Proteas as the firm favourites.
Thus, the pressure will be on them from the start, as losing the first game would reduce their chances to reach the next stage considerably, and if they lose to either Nepal or the Netherlands after already bagging defeats to Zimbabwe and the USA, the team will be thrown into an inferno.
Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who will become the only second player to play nine T20 World Cups in Sri Lanka, hoped that the fans in the USA would support them throughout.
鈥楢 lot of Bangladeshi fans are eagerly waiting for the World Cup. I hope they will give us their full support. Their support will help us. We will be able to get good results. I don鈥檛 want personal accolades. I want one thing so that I can contribute to Bangladesh. I can do something good for Bangladesh in this World Cup,鈥� he said.
The support, though, will only come with success after years go by without any of it.