Hridoy missing T20 beat?

If the 2-0 margin of victory doesn't make it obvious, the fact that only eight Bangladeshi batters got a chance to bat in the three-match series against the Netherlands is a solid indicator of just how one-sided the series in Sylhet was.

The number would have been halved to four had the Tigers not batted first in the third match on Wednesday, which got called off due to rain after the hosts made 164-4 in 18.2 overs.

Four batters -- Tawhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali, and Nurul Hasan -- batted for the first time in the series in that game.

While Nurul (22 off 11 balls) and Jaker (20 off 13) hit some boundaries in their short stay and Shamim (21 off 19) got some game time after recently recovering from fever, there were no positive takeaways from Hridoy's 14-ball stay in the middle, which yielded nine runs.

His knock was the only boundary-less innings from a Bangladeshi batter in the series and also the only innings with a strike-rate lower than 100.

This poor innings against the Dutch wasn't an aberration but a reflection of how Hridoy has been batting in the shortest format in this calendar year.

The 24-year-old's last half-century, an unbeaten 63 off 42 balls against India, came in October last year. In the 12 innings since then, he has crossed the 30-run mark thrice, with his best knock being a 24-ball 45 against the UAE in a losing cause.

Both his strike rate and average in T20Is have dropped significantly from last year. In 2024, he averaged 30.81 at a strike rate of 130.08, whereas in 2025, his average dipped to 20.45 and strike rate plunged even further to 110.84.

The slump in Hridoy's T20I numbers indicates that other teams now know how to keep him quiet.

His struggle to rotate the strike is still apparent. At one point during his innings on Wednesday, he had hit three consecutive deliveries straight to fielders inside the circle -- twice at short-third and once at cover point -- ruining the momentum of the innings with dots.

After six dots against a sub-par attack, Hridoy tried to break free by charging down the wicket against Tim Pringle, only to get caught at long-off.

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Batting is not the only aspect of his game where he is showing a lack of match awareness.

In the first match of the series, he missed a blatant run-out opportunity at the non-striker's end -- first trying to run in from extra-cover to break the stumps, then trying to hit the wickets with an underarm throw.

In the same match, he also misjudged a catch at the boundary, as the ball went over his head and dropped before the ropes to trickle over the line.

While Hridoy's struggle continued, in the same series, Saif Hassan made an impressive comeback, hitting a brisk 19-ball 36 and taking a couple of wickets in the first T20I.

With Saif's resurgence, Hridoy's spot in the middle-order does not look set in stone anymore.