Bangladesh cricket sinks to its lowest of lows with T20I series defeat against the USA

Bangladeshi cricket fans, more or less, are familiar with a popular Urdu line "Hamara target hai hum nahi jitega (Our target is that we won't win any match)".

This cult self-trolling line aired on a Pakistani TV channel back in 2005 where the host invited a staged Bangladeshi cricketer to talk about their then-miseries.

Bangladesh cricket team seem to have taken that line way too seriously, for real, in 2024. 

Bangladesh cricket sank to a new low as they suffered a shock T20I series defeat to the USA, with a match still remaining.

Is this the lowest of the lows in Bangladesh's cricket history? 

Sure, Bangladesh went winless for 23 ODIs from 1999 to 2002.

They lost to Canada on Eid day in the 2003 World Cup.

Or, they were humbled by Hong Kong on home soil in the 2014 T20 World Cup.

And there are a few other not-so-pleasant instances too. 

But this USA humbling has surely got to be the lowest of them all.

That winless streak or the defeat against Canada came at a very early stage of Bangladesh's cricket.

2014 was 10 years ago when the T20I cricket didn't reach such a level to where it is now.

It is 2024 and Bangladesh failed to chase down 145 runs in a T20I match, against the 19th-ranked USA side - a team which Bangladesh didn't have the courage to bat first in order to save the series. 

And it's only fitting that they became the first-ever team to lose 100 T20Is on the same day as well.

Back to Thursday night when crazy things happened. 145 runs from 120 balls may seem like a tad bit of a difficult task sometimes. 

Let us be a little more specific, then.

Bangladesh needed 43 runs to win from the final six overs with six wickets in hand on Thursday.

More than seven runs per over is a bit tough, no? 

How about 26 runs from the final 24 balls, with five wickets in hand?

Sounds like a walk in the park for the chasing team in T20Is any day.

But, Bangladesh being Bangladesh, lost the match by six runs losing all their wickets. 

Bangladesh's faltering top order has been brought under scrutiny a number of times already.

But it's the whole batting approach as a unit that needs to be questioned and scrutinised after their poor outings in recent times. 

The lack of consistency and the real ability of the batters is a massive headache going into the T20 World Cup. 

Below-par batting has always been Bangladesh's biggest enemy in the shorter format of the game.

The cricket fraternity used to complain about Bangladesh's max ability of scoring 160 in T20Is.

But after the recent two series against Zimbabwe and the USA, scoring 160 seems like a distant memory now. 

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, who himself has been in a terrible run of form with the bat, blamed the wickets in the Zimbabwe series for their poor batting display and shock loss against the USA in the first T20.

Is it only about the wickets though?

Well, the captain changed his tone a bit after completing the series defeat, saying they have to "change the mindset" to play better cricket, insisting that they don't have any problem when it comes to skills. 

"We didn't play well, but we have an opportunity to come up with a good plan in the next match. We should change our mindset, it's not about our skills," Shanto said after the humiliating series defeat. 

Better plans and execution with a better mindset? The whole cricket fraternity will eagerly wait to watch how that goes.

Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was the top scorer for Bangladesh despite batting with problems in his eyes, was asked about why Bangladesh's batting has not been up to T20 standard. 

"I can't say. I have no answer to that," he answered.

Does anybody have an answer to that though?

The players, the coaching staff, the board?

Not anyone, no. 

Bangladesh seem like a clueless unit in the shorter format of the game as if they have been forced to play the game against their will. 

Remember Raaju from the cartoon series Meena?

He wanted to give up on his responsibilities dumped on him because he was too tired after a hectic day of hard work.

The Bangladesh cricket team in T20I cricket feels like him now, just forcing things and going through the motions without any real heart or enjoyment. 

Renowned local cricket coach and head of cricket at BKSP Nazmul Abedeen Fahim posted on his Facebook page after the loss a picture with the words "I wish I could go back to the day I met you and just walk away" and the caption "Ohhhh Cricket….". 

It's becoming a common sentiment and theme among even the most ardent fans of the Tigers and perhaps, this has been the breaking point for many.

Who knows what the future holds?

If the players don't have the answers, one starts to wonder who really does.

Perhaps all we can do is, as the players often times suggest is "pray".