The shocking batting collapse of Bangladesh against Sri Lanka in the first ODI revealed a dismal picture as the middle order failed miserably in a venue where batting could be considerably tough in certain circumstances.
At one stage, Bangladesh were cruising at 100-1 in the 17th over, chasing 245 with pacer Taskin Ahmed chilling in the dressing room with a cup of coffee.
Suddenly, things changed as five wickets fell with a blink of an eye. 鈥業t reminds me that in cricket, there is uncertainty. I wasn鈥檛 expecting that,鈥� said Taskin after the match.
Obviously, a collapse can happen anytime to any team. But Bangladesh had other challenges to tackle in batting.
Liton Das came to the crease after Najmul Hossain Shanto was run out. It was Liton鈥檚 first ODI since December last year, as he was dropped from the Champions Trophy.
Liton has been going through a rough patch in the format, as his previous seven innings read: 0, 4, 2, 0, 0, 1*, and 6.
When Liton was called back for this series, Bangladesh national team chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain said that they wanted to give Liton some game time, as he鈥檚 the captain of the T20 format.
Then ahead of the first game, the new captain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, said that Liton would fill the position of Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle order.
Mushfiq, who announced his retirement following the Champions Trophy, had been a linchpin in the middle order for Bangladesh.
No batter has more runs than him (7,448) in the positions between four and seven for Bangladesh.
Liton is quite experienced in international cricket; this was his 96th ODI. However, the issue is that Liton is used to batting higher in the order. This was only the sixth time and first since 2023 that he came to bat at four.
Liton wanted to bide his time, but he had none. The wicketkeeper-batter played down the wrong line to a googly of Wanindu Hasaranga. That was a classic example of a dismissal of a batter who was out of form.
Bangladesh were 100-1 and became 101-3 before the scorecard read 102-4. It was that time when Mehidy came to the crease.
Mehidy had a lot on his plate going into the series. He had been given the captaincy in a manner that barely dimmed in a professional way.
Moreover, Bangladesh are at one of their lowest points in the 50-over format. And then, the burden of handling the transition phase was upon his shoulders.
The all-rounder, who was used to bat at seven or eight, the two positions where he batted in more than half of his career, came to six.
This was only the second time he came to bat in that position, to fill the gap of Mahmudullah, who was the third highest run-getter in Bangladesh鈥檚 history in the middle order.
Mehidy tried to play across to a googly of Hasaranga and failed. He was adjudged lbw. He couldn鈥檛 manage a run.
Liton and Mehidy, now two of the most experienced cricketers of Bangladesh in the format, found themselves completely caught off guard in the new role.
Together they couldn鈥檛 put on a run. From a strong position, when Taskin thought that Bangladesh could pull the chase off with five to six overs remaining, Bangladesh were in real danger now.
鈥楾hat one over where we lost two set batters might have caused a bit of panic. We were under pressure, we panicked, and those dismissals were unexpected,鈥� Taskin said about the environment around the dressing room at that moment.聽
And that panic triggered a spectacular collapse. Bangladesh missed someone like Mushfiq and Mahmudullah at that moment.
Liton and Mehidy had big shoes to fill in their new roles, but their coronation became messy and posed a lot of questions to answer.