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Bangladesh find themselves at rock bottom of the 2023 World Cup points table after a comprehensive defeat at the hands of South Africa in Mumbai on Tuesday, October 24.
The heavy margin of defeat (149 runs) spoke volumes about the woes in the Bangladesh camp and how they have underperformed in the tournament so far. They have managed to win just their opening game against Afghanistan and have failed to give their opposition a run for their money in the rest of the matches.
On that note, let's take a look at three of the major reasons why they have struggled in the 2023 World Cup so far:
#3 No wrist spinner in the squad
Bangladesh are the only team in the 2023 World Cup to not have even a single wrist-spin option in their squad. While the experience of Shakib Al Hasan and the skills of Mehidy Hasan have helped them in the past, they have found it tough to pick up wickets in the middle overs.
The presence of a wrist spinner always gives teams a chance to break the partnerships, especially on pitches that don't aid the finger spinners. This has meant that Bangladesh have been overdependent on their captain Shakib to strike regularly and have struggled when that's not happened.
#2 Batters batting out of position
Bangladesh have tried the ploy to use Mehidy a lot in the top order and have also backed the likes of Najmul Hossain Shanto to do the job at No.4. However, this has meant that the experienced pros like Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim are batting in the lower middle order.
Even someone as experienced as Mahmudullah has batted as low as No.8 and scored a hundred against the Proteas at No.6 when the game was arguably over. This has certainly not helped their cause, especially when the basic unsaid rule of the game is that the best batters in the team should face as many deliveries as possible. Towhid Hridoy batted out of position and naturally couldn't perform and was dropped.
#1 Off-field issues
Arguably the biggest problem for Bangladesh seems the off-field issues that they had to go through before the tournament. There was a reported disagreement between Shakib and veteran opener Tamim Iqbal, which led to the latter being deemed unfit and dropped from the World Cup squad.
Even after scoring his hundred on Tuesday, Mahmudullah hinted to the media that there was quite a lot that he wanted to say but was holding himself back because of the World Cup. Such things only point out the potentially problematic dressing room atmosphere, which eventually affects the performance of the team.
