Bangladesh have learned a lot from the tri-series in New Zealand despite losing all four games, according to their technical consultant Sridharan Sriram. The key takeaway was that they had tried and tested the different combinations they could use during the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.
Bangladesh produced their best batting performance of the tri-series in the seven-wicket loss against Pakistan on Thursday, but the bowlers could not defend at the death.
"Everything has to come together for Bangladesh to win," Sriram said. "We had two opportunities against Pakistan. We had to score 100 in the last ten overs in the first game, and defend 100 runs in the last ten overs in this game. We came up short by small margin in both games. But these are things to learn from. Good teams score or defend ten runs an over in the last half."
Bangladesh tried four different opening combinations during the tri-series and rotated their fast bowlers. Going by the numbers, they seem unsure about which pair of openers to use in their first game of the T20 World Cup.
"You look at it as experiments but we look at it as combinations," Sriram said. "We will know how each player responds by putting them in different situations. I think we have learned quite a bit. We are very clear about our combinations against different teams. We have to keep all options ready.
We are very clear about the best team we want to play. I think the captain, myself and the director are on the same page. We have two or three combinations in mind. Given the conditions, we will adopt accordingly."
Sriram was impressed with how Soumya Sarkar - who was dropped after the last T20 World Cup in the UAE - showed the right "intent" in his two innings in the tri-series. "He played a shot and got out. That's intent. I think he was selfless. He played for the team. We only got 6-7 runs in the first two overs. He wanted to force the pace, but got out. It happens.
"He played a good knock at No. 3 in the last game. I think there are good signs. We need to instill the confidence in players like him."
Sriram said the team management would have a few more discussions before deciding on Bangladesh's final squad for the World Cup. "We have two more days. There'll definitely be discussions. We are open to changes. We know what we want, so we will let you know in a couple of days."
Bangladesh now travel to Brisbane, where they will play warm-up games against Afghanistan on October 17 and South Africa on October 19, before their first game of the Super 12 against a qualifying team on October 24 in Hobart.