Loss against Pakistan highlights literally nothing has changed for Bangladesh in T20Is

After another insipid performance by Bangladesh in the first T20I of the tri-nation series against Pakistan in New Zealand, time is running out for the Tigers to get things right ahead of the T20 World Cup. 

The technical consultant Sridharan Sriram spoke earlier about needing to have impact players in the side but the performance against Pakistan was an ode to the more placid showings that Bangladesh have quite often produced in T20I cricket. 

Negative, defensive captaincy

Nurul Hasan Sohan might be the stand-in T20I captain with Shakib Al Hasan missing out on the first match, but he did not make the most of his opportunity. 

After winning the toss and deciding to bowl first - the right call - there was swing on offer for the fast bowlers.

Taskin Ahmed bowled a very good first over and got the ball to talk while conceding just one run. 

But despite that, he was not given the third over and Sohan kept changing the bowlers in each over of the powerplay, allowing the two dangerous openers - Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam - to settle down.

It was defensive captaincy from the get-go with no intention to attack the batters and take advantage of the toss and conditions. 

Had Bangladesh managed to take Babar and Rizwan (who was eventually the player of the match for his innings of 78 not out) out cheaply, things could have gone differently.

"We are disappointed. The wicket was good and the bowlers did well. We need to improve in a few areas though. Wickets in the middle while batting cost us. Liton and Yasir batted well, but as I said, we need to improve there," Sohan said after the match.

Mustafiz out, Ebadot in

It's been quite a while now and Mustafizur Rahman has been a shell of his former self with the ball.

The left-arm pacer has struggled in conditions away from Mirpur, where his cutters don't take as much grip and hence he has to rely more on orthodox pace bowling.

The 27-year-old was once again expensive giving away 48 runs in his four overs and failing to take any wickets.

He has been given the job as the death overs bowler and it's fair to say that he failed to do the job.

Ebadot Hossain, a player who has down well in New Zealand conditions in red-ball cricket can be the option to replace Mustafiz.

He has more pace and can extract more from the conditions in New Zealand, although he too has been expensive at the death.

But overall, Ebadot can be a better strike-bowling option up top than Mustafiz and it's safe to say his time as a regular in the starting XI is coming to an end.  

The opening pair is a problem

Let's be honest here, Mehidy Hasan Miraz is not a natural opener; neither is Sabbir Rahman.

But both have been given an extended run to no success.

Sabbir played and missed his way to a 14-run innings from 18 balls.

Miraz was no better with an innings of 10 from 11 balls as both openers failed to give any impetus to the Bangladesh innings in the powerplay during the run chase of 168.

It's time to give a more natural opener in Litton Das that role and perhaps even think of bringing Soumya Sarkar into the starting XI. 

That doesn't necessarily mean dropping either Sabbir or Miraz, but rather playing them lower down the order in more natural positions.

Sohan however insisted on plugging the loopholes in the next matches to make them better prepared for the T20 Cup.

"We need to plug the loopholes as early as possible as we have the World Cup ahead. Hopefully, we will be able to fix everything in this tournament," he added.

There was one visible positive in the match for Bangladesh, and that was the batting of Yasir Ali, who top-scored with 42 not out from just 21 deliveries.

His innings had five boundaries and two sixes and he used his power to clear the ropes against the Pakistani fast bowlers.

Having players who can do that at the death with the bat will be important for Bangladesh and is an area they have been looking to improve on, especially since Mahmudullah Riyad is not in the team and has not been in good form with the bat.

Overall, there are issues in the side that have been there for a long time and they need to be solved soon with the World Cup approaching. 

While change won't happen overnight, the right steps need to be taken to ensure things move in the right direction at least.