Big moment in Mushfiqur Rahim's career
Mushfiqur Rahim apologised to his fans on social media, the morning after Bangladesh's one-run defeat to India. He would have felt the world crashing down on him after his dismissal sparked a last-minute collapse. It had been shaping up to be his moment on Wednesday night, after nearly four months of a low-scoring run.
How he handles himself in this situation will be important to how the rest of the year pans out for him. Previously, he has reacted too emotionally, particularly when he resigned from the captaincy after losing an ODI series against Zimbabwe in 2013. There is also a question-mark about his wicketkeeping, as the team have already started to give attention to his understudy Nurul Hasan. The faster Mushfiqur can forget what happened in Bangalore, the better it will be for him.
Mashrafe Mortaza still a force
Mashrafe Mortaza is the master of comebacks in the Bangladesh team and he proved it once again against India, after being criticised for bowling just one over against Australia. In Bangalore, he did not concede a four or a six in his four overs, and used all of his skills to keep the India top and middle order quiet. He could have picked up a wicket if the Suresh Raina top-edge had fallen in a more populated area of the field.
His captaincy, too, was mostly spot-on, especially when he used the sweepers on both sides of the field from the first ball, used Shuvagata Hom first up and brought Mahmudullah to bowl at Yuvraj Singh late in the innings.
Bangladesh may have turned the T20 corner
This tournament was Bangladesh's most well-planned approach to a World T20. Mashrafe and the coach Chandika Hathurusingha tried out a few things with varying levels of success. Giving Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah specific roles gave the team two forceful batsmen at crucial stages. They had a squad that gave them options to manoeuvre their strategy.
They also had a Plan B and C when last-minute changes had to be made, especially in the absence of Tamim Iqbal and Taskin Ahmed. Bangladesh's main goal was to reach the Super 10 stage, which means they will consider this a successful World T20 campaign. But they would still rue the missed chances against Australia and India.
Shakib Al Hasan is back
During the Super 10 stage, Shakib Al Hasan looked more involved than he has been as Mashrafe's deputy in the limited-overs formats in the last 18 months. It could have been triggered by a bit of poor form with the bat and some ordinary spells with his left-arm spin in the Asia Cup. He is certainly up to speed with his batting.
Shakib's bowling has usually been better when he has had to make a solo effort in the attack, and the absence of Arafat Sunny meant that he had to feel that way again in this tournament. His four overs were very important to how Bangladesh fared, and one could make out that his overall confidence was in place with the way he gave the ball more air and found a bit of drift quite regularly.
Selection confusion
With due respect to Shuvagata Hom's adjustment to a World T20 stage after being at home for a first-class tournament, it was still baffling to see him being picked ahead of Nasir Hossain, who played only two matches in the first round of the tournament. It seemed Nasir had won the battle for the bit-part allrounder slot, and yet it was Shuvagata who got the call when an opening arose in the XI.
Nasir has had some success at the highest level but his batting form has tailed off since 2014. Mashrafe reintroduced him as an offspinner in 2015 but that, too, has not apparently impressed the rest of the team management. It sent out a wrong signal, though, and it is now quite certain that Nasir isn't their first choice anymore.