No room for dysfunction against Australia

A series sweep across the formats in Harare against Zimbabwe is what was expected of Bangladesh and the Tigers certainly lived up to their billing. With the collection of all 30 ICC ODI Super League Points from the three ODIs, the series was more than just a morale booster for a group on the back of a string of losses, especially while playing away from home.

However, aside from clear on-field dominance, barring a 23-run defeat in the second T20I which was the sole hitch along the way, one other thing that came to the fore vividly during this Zimbabwe tour was the lack of trust and communication between the players and team management.

Despite a convincing 220-run victory in the one-off Test, Mahmudullah Riyad's sudden retirement from the format hogged all the spotlight. The way this news broke -- with players giving Mahmudullah a guard of honour and writing farewell messages on social media but refusing to acknowledge anything in front of the media as there was no official announcement -- only demonstrated the gap in communication between players and the management.

With the Mahmudullah issue being doused by a dominant showing in the three-match ODI series, another issue involving ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal emerged. Although the cricketer denied any such issue, there were reports that Tamim was on the verge of quitting his role as ODI captain after his dedication towards the team had been brought into question following his decision to opt out of the T20I series due to a knee injury.

Meanwhile, the epitome of miscommunication on the part of the management was when two sets of messages were relayed, one from chief selector Minhajul Abedin and another from cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan, regarding Bangladesh opener Liton Das' availability for the upcoming series against Australia.

Only hours after initiating the confusion, the BCB issued a press release mentioning that Liton had been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against Australia at home after the batsman left the team bubble in Zimbabwe to return to Bangladesh for a family emergency on Monday.

However, despite all these off-field issues, the severely injury-hit Bangladesh still managed to come out with trophies in all three formats. While it is the players' performance and determination that ensured off-field issues had no impact on their demeanor, it cannot be denied that the hurdle was easier to cross as it was against a low-ranked Zimbabwe side.

That will not be the case against the formidable Australians, who are slated to play five T20Is in the space of just seven days.

As much as the tight schedule will be an issue for a Bangladesh side who are already missing multiple key players like Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das due to injury or personal tragedies, their ability will be put to a stern test against Aaron Finch's side in a format considered the Achilles heel of the Bangladesh men's cricket team.

The series is being considered as part of preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup and only a fully coherent Bangladesh side -- with performance on the field resonating with sound off-field management -- can make a statement about how they will approach the upcoming T20 World Cup.