Bangladesh's Twenty20 World Cup campaign ended with a defeat against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval last Sunday.
The Tigers missed a golden opportunity to enter the semi-finals for the first time in history, and eventually came up well short against Pakistan, who were also under pressure themselves to qualify for the last four.
Bangladesh almost pulled off a famous win against India in Adelaide but then again, batting collapsed in the face of tense moments and bottled the momentum as they failed to score 85 off 54 balls with all 10 wickets in hand.
On paper, Bangladesh enjoyed their most successful campaign with two wins, against the Netherlands and Zimbabwe, but those victories came in the last few balls as the Tigers managed great escapes on both occasions.
These two wins were achieved on the back of impressive displays by the bowlers, but the batsmen had a disappointing campaign overall and failed to produce significant impact.
Bangladesh played against the Netherlands, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan in their five Super 12 stage games, and below is the breakdown of the Tigers' batting unit in this year's T20 World Cup:
Shanto finished as the Tigers' highest run-scorer, scoring 2 of Bangladesh's 3 fifties in the tournament AFP
Nazmul Hossain Shanto: 180 runs from 157 deliveries
The inclusion of Shanto in the T20 World Cup squad raised questions during the selectors' announcement, but the left-hander finished the tournament as their highest run-scorer. The southpaw scored 180 runs from five innings with an average of 36. Bangladesh batters managed to score only three fifty-plus innings in this campaign, and two of those came from Shanto's willow. But the talking point of his batting was the moderate strike rate, which was 114.64 – well below average as an opener in T20 Internationals.
Soumya got off to 2 promising starts, but couldn't utilize either AFP
Soumya Sarkar: 49 runs from 39 deliveries
Soumya was in the reserve list for the mega event, but he was included in the last moment in place of Sabbir Rahman, who was axed due to poor form as an opener. Soumya got plenty of opportunities to prove his worth, but couldn't utilize those chances as he scored only 49 runs with an average of 12.25. He had a flying start in two of his four knocks, once against South Africa in Sydney where he struck two sixes in his first two deliveries, and another against Pakistan where he scored 20 off 17, but later could not manage to score big.
With the exception of the swashbuckling innings against India, Liton couldn't do justice to his talents AFP
Liton Das: 127 runs from 89 deliveries
Liton's blistering 60 off 27 deliveries against India can be easily considered as one of the best innings in this T20 World Cup. The right-hander scored 127 runs with an average of 25.4 and impressive strike rate of 142.69. The elegant batter started from where he had left off before the world event, but considering his good run of form, he had an average outing overall. The burning issue with him was his batting position as he scored heavily in the opening spot but team management deployed him at No 3 in three games. Against India he was promoted to open and he played a gem of an innings. He should have opened in the remaining games as well.
Shakib the batter was totally out of sorts throughout the competition AFPShakib al Hasan: 44 runs from 46 deliveries
One of the biggest disappointments for Bangladesh could be skipper Shakib's poor form. He is the most experienced batsman in the squad and a lot of expectations were riding on the Bangladesh captain to carry the team to a good position. Shakib batted at crucial No 4 position in every game but garnered only 44 runs in five innings with an average of 8.8 and strike rate of 95.65. Shakib's dismissal in the last game against Pakistan was unfortunate as the third umpire retained the on-field leg before wicket decision of out, despite TV replay clearly showing that he had snicked the ball, but apart from that, it was a dispiriting performance from the Tigers captain with the bat.
60 T20I-old Afif had an average campaign AFP Afif Hossain: 95 runs from 76 deliveries
Afif had big shoes to fill as he was batting at the heart of the middle-order, which is a very essential spot for the Tigers. He played his 60th T20I when Bangladesh battled Pakistan and Afif is certainly now one of the experienced batsmen of the side. Since Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah are history for Bangladesh in T20Is, a lot of responsibility was lying on Afif's shoulders to carry the team with good scores, but he too spent an average tournament. Afif totalled 95 runs from five innings with an average 23.75 and strike rate of 123.
Mosaddek Hossain Saikat: 38 runs from 39 deliveries
Mosaddek was considered as an all-rounder in the team and had a role to score quick runs in the late stage of the innings. He scored some vital runs in the first game against the Dutch in windy conditions at Hobart. But later in four innings, his batting was poor. He made 38 runs in five innings, and faced 39 deliveries, which was very abject. Mosaddek was out for five off 11 balls against Pakistan where a good innings from him was really needed by the team. Team expected a lot more from Mosaddek, who has played 33 T20Is, but in vital moments his bat did not do any talking.
Nurul fell short of what was required from him as a wicketkeeper-batter more often than not AFPNurul Hasan: 41 runs from 42 deliveries
Nurul has cemented his place as a wicketkeeper-batsman in the playing XI for the last one and a half years and was promoted as the vice-captain of the team in recent past. He has an important role to play as he has the ability to hit boundaries in death overs. The right-hander faced 42 deliveries in the tournament and managed to score only 41 runs. Nurul fought till the end against India and scored 25 off 14. If he had smashed a sixer in the last ball then the match would have gone to the Super Over but that did not happen. It was a below par tournament with the bat, and also with the gloves.
The burly right-hander scored a grand total of 5 runs in 3 games BCBYasir Ali: 5 runs from 9 deliveries
When Yasir was included in the T20 World Cup squad back in October, the technical consultant Sridharan Sriram heaped high praises on him. Sriram stated that Yasir has the power of clearing the boundary easily and Bangladesh have been looking for exactly that at the death overs. But Yasir played three games in the tournament and got dropped twice due to team combination. But among those three matches, Yasir got two golden chances to show his class, and missed out on both instances. He scored three against the Netherlands at Hobart and was clean bowled. He was needed most against the Indians where the Tigers collapsed while chasing 85 off 54 balls with 10 wickets in hand. He could have grabbed the opportunity with both hands and become a hero, but was dismissed for just one off three balls.