Shakib, Sriram new T20I captain and coach but the same old conservative approach haunts Bangladesh

Ahead of the Asia Cup Group Stage match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, there was a feeling that the brand of cricket and tactics applied by the Tigers would be different.

The cricket would be more fearless and fresh under new captain Shakib Al Hasan and technical consultant (fancier term for head coach) Sridharan Sriram.

Unfortunately, that was not entirely the case as Bangladesh eventually lost the match by seven wickets against a team that played the more fearless cricket in the end.

At the end of the day, three decisions by captain Shakib could have been made differently and it probably would have changed the complexion of the match, and in favour of the Tigers.

Winning the toss and choosing not to bowl

At the time of the toss, the new T20I captain received a raucous reception from Bangladeshi fans at Sharjah.

That only continued once the T20I captain for the third time won the toss.

What didn't make full sense was when he chose to bat first.

Bangladesh are traditionally poor chasers in T20I cricket but as results in the last T20I World Cup played in the same country showed, batting second gives you the advantage.

Australia won the tournament on the back of batting second in most of the matches and winning them.

There is generally dew in the second innings and the best bowling conditions are at the beginning of the first innings.

For Shakib and Sriram - who have been looking to play T20I cricket the way other top teams play it - to take the more conservative approach of batting first made little sense.

The slow start and loss of early wickets only proved that this was the wrong decision. 

If Bangladesh had bowled first and restricted Afghanistan, they would have stood a better chance, or at least given themselves an opportunity to try something different and see if things fare better.    

Afif not batting at number four as promised

There was talk from the management that the newly appointed vice-captain for the Asia Cup, Afif Hossain would be batting and number four.

Fans had been calling for Afif to get a move up the order as the left-hander had been one of the few Bangladesh batters to have some positive form leading into the tournament.

But once Bangladesh had lost both their openers, in came Mushfiqur Rahim at number four, instead of Afif, who had been slated for the spot.

Perhaps it was done because Shakib Al Hasan was at the crease and the team management wanted to go with a left-right batting combination instead of having two left-handers, especially with Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowling.

Perhaps it was to try and protect Afif from the early onslaught by the Afghan bowlers and get the more experienced Mushfiqur at the crease to steady things with Shakib, but that didn't pay off as Mushfiq lasted just four deliveries and Afif was in.

It was another decision where a more conservative approach was taken, as had been the case under the previous captain and coach Mahmudullah Riyad and Russell Domingo.

Afif played an unremarkable innings of 12 runs from 15 balls before falling prey to Rashid Khan's leg-spin. 

The death over bowling changes 

Bangladesh's bowlers had fought hard and helped them claw their way back into the game, despite having to defend just 127 runs from 120 balls. 

After the 14th over, Afghanistan needed 63 runs from just 36 balls and pressure was mounting on them.

Mosaddek Hossain, who was having a good game with the bat (top-scoring with 48 not out from 31 balls) and then ball (having removed the Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi in his previous over) was not allowed to continue bowling in the 15th over.

Instead, Shakib turned to the pace of Taskin Ahmed, who had started decently, but in that over, conceded two boundaries and gave away 11 runs.

That gave the Afghanistan chase some momentum and in the next over, Mahedi Hasan conceded nine runs, still two less than what Taskin conceded and below the asking rate of over 10. 

That should have given Shakib the hint that spin would be the way to go with two overs left from Mosaddek and Mahmudullah not given a bowl at all. 

But instead, Shakib brought on Mustafizur Rahman, and he struggled to maintain his lines and lengths as he conceded 17 runs and the equation was then an easy 26 needed off 18 balls. 

Mahmudullah is known to bowl well at the death and Mosaddek was looking dangerous with the ball and having them bowl could have been the aggressive, out-of-the-box thinking that was needed here but Shakib chose the more conventional option here again.

In the end, more than the loss, Bangladesh will be disappointed in their decisions and lack of proactive thinking in key moments in the match.

They had promised to take a fresher approach to the way they had been playing T20I cricket but failed to do any of that in the first match here. 

There is still a chance for Bangladesh to qualify through to the next round with a win over Sri Lanka which takes place at 8:00 pm (Bangladesh standard time) on Thursday in Dubai. 

But more than wins and losses, the way they have played in the first match needs to change if they want to make this stint of Shakib as captain count for something and take the team in a positive direction for the long-term future.

It's still early days in Shakib and Sriram's tenure and fans will hope that they can learn from past mistakes and truly change the way they team approaches and plays T20I cricket.