Question marks surround Shakib's men in Australia - Bangladesh team preview

Shakib Al Hasan (c), Nurul Hasan, Afif Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Litton Das, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shoriful Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Musaddek Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Yasir Ali Chowdhury. Reserves: Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin

All the squads for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Super 8 (2007)

A stunning win over West Indies in Johannesburg in their first match of the tournament gave Bangladesh a strong start to their campaign. Led by Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed, Bangladesh chased down 165 inside 18 overs to emerge victorious.

Subsequently, they lost to South Africa but got out of the group to reach the Super 8 stage where they lost each of their three matches to Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan respectively.

The win against the West Indies in their first-ever T20 World Cup match remains one of their only seven victories over the seven editions of the tournament.

(Most recent first): L L L L W W L L L W

vs A2 (October 24), Bellerive Oval, Hobart

vs South Africa (October 27), Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

vs B1 (October 30), The Gabba, Brisbane

vs India (November 2), Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

vs Pakistan (November 6), Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

vs the qualifying teams (October 24 and 30)

Bangladesh have never won a T20I against South Africa, beaten Pakistan only twice in 17 attempts in this format and India once in 11 matches. Given that the conditions aren't to their strengths, Bangladesh's best bet to be genuine contenders to qualify from the group would be to win their matches against the two qualifying teams,

Banking on more aggression at the top of the order with the bat after leaving out a few senior players, Bangladesh will be eyeing good totals against these teams with their rejuvenated pace attack offering promise on paper.

Bangladesh's struggles against pace are evident. A loss in the warm-up fixture against Afghanistan, where they were blown away by pace in the Powerplay, further underlines this. To tackle teams to their best potential, Bangladesh will need intent at the top and their spinners doing well through the middle overs.

Key Player

**Litton Das -**While Shakib Al Hasan adds great balance, experience and bowling prowess, Bangladesh's key player this campaign would be Litton Das. The opener's promising showing in New Zealand in the recent tri-series is evidence of how he can get going on the bouncier surfaces against quality quicks.

Since the end of the last T20 World Cup, Das has amassed 417 runs at an average of 29.78 and a strike rate close to 140. He's also made three fifty-plus scores from the top.

If Litton can give Shakib and the likes of Afif Hossain and Nurul Hasan a decent base, Bangladesh would benefit immensely.

Bangladesh shuffle the pack with two last-minute squad changes

A couple of last-ditch changes in the squad for the tournament reveal a kind of uncertainty regarding their best combination in this format. In the last few months, the group has seen marked changes with skipper from the last campaign, Mahmud Ullah, dropped for this edition and the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman, who was moved to the reserve pool, no longer there.

The fact that Bangladesh have struggled to notch up consistent wins in this format, especially outside home, is worrying. Since 2021, Bangladesh have won only seven of their 28 T20I matches outside home.

This includes series losses to New Zealand, West Indies, and recently, Zimbabwe, where they conceded both the T20Is and ODIs. An early exit from the Asia Cup further dented Bangladesh's recent record in T20Is.

While there were flashes of individual brilliance in the recent tri-series in New Zealand, they ended up losing all of their four matches.

There's no denying that Bangladesh have talent. There's potential with the bat in the top and middle order, some quality spin options and some impressive pacers, who are quickly forging a formidable unit.

But it will take Bangladesh more than individual performances to surprise a few teams in this tournament. As Namibia and Scotland showed in the first two days at the T20 World Cup, to beat good teams you need the entire team stepping up.

Shakib will hope he can rally around his men in this new-look Bangladesh side to punch above their weight and put in a good performance Down Under this time around.