Possible swansong for a few

Bangladesh will play against Australia today in their last match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 as they have no possibility of reaching the semi-finals after losing the previous four in the Super 12 stage.

This could be the swansong for a few cricketers in Twenty20 internationals as the Bangladesh Cricket Board is looking for a complete overhaul in the shortest format, starting from wickets to players as the next edition is only a year away.

Mahmudullah Riyad is the current T20I captain and one of the most experienced cricketers in this format, as he will be playing his 110th T20i match for Bangladesh today. Mahmudullah has only scored 347 runs in 29 T20 World Cup matches with an average of 18.24 and a strike rate of 111.93. His only half-century in the World Cup came against Papua New Guinea in the current edition.

Mushfiqur Rahim is currently the only cricketer in the team (with Shakib Al Hasan ruled out) who played in Bangladesh's first-ever T20I in 2006.Mushfiq will be playing his 99th T20I for Bangladesh when he takes the field against Australia, but his performance in the shortest format is below par compared to one-day internationals and Tests.

He has scored 1464 runs in his 98 T20Is, and in World Cups, it gets worse. He has played 32 matches in the T20 World Cup, playing in every single edition so far, and has managed only 401 runs at a poor average of 18.22 with a strike rate of 107.79.

The match against Australia could be the swansong for these two brothers-in-law, who salvaged Bangladesh on many occasions but also orchestrated an impossible defeat against India in Bengaluru at the 2016 T20 World Cup.

Selector Habibul Bashar hinted that they will be looking for some changes in the T20 set-up.

"We will think about the future after the World Cup. I am disappointed as a selector. We are a settled ODI side. We have had ups and downs in Test cricket, but we haven’t found consistency in T20 cricket. We couldn’t live up to the high hopes of the World Cup. We haven’t improved in certain areas, but if we play T20s regularly at the international and domestic arena, we can do well in the next T20 World Cup," he told the media on Saturday.

"Our batting hasn’t lived up to our expectations. We have to improve in the powerplay. If we want to do well in T20Is, I think we should have better batting wickets in our upcoming domestic T20 tournaments," he added.

After the end of the World Cup campaign, Bangladesh will play a three-match T20I series against Pakistan at home, starting on November 19.

Pakistan is cruising in this World Cup and have already reached the semifinals. And they will be fielding the same team against Bangladesh as the players will travel straight to Dhaka from UAE.

The series against Pakistan is an opportunity for Bangladesh to make a fresh start with younger players with potentials in this format as the experienced ones failed poorly to live up to the expectations.

"We will think about the future after the World Cup. We will have time before the Pakistan series," Bashar said.

Moreover, the match against Australia could be the last appearance for head coach Russel Domingo, who was appointed in a two-year term in August 2019. The tenure expired a few months ago, but he was asked to carry on as the new contract was supposed to be signed after the World Cup. But after the shambolic performances in the World Cup, BCB is no longer interested in him at this moment.