An outcome befitting the approach

What's the trademark of a big team in modern cricket?

Ask any cricket pundit and the answer will all but certainly include the following: A team that has the capability to post scores north of 300 almost on a regular basis.

For Bangladesh, the opportunity was there on Thursday when they faced India in a World Cup game in Pune. The surface at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium expectedly did not have any demons -- bar the initial overs when pacers had their tail up with the new ball still smooth and shiny.

Also, both the openers Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Liton Das had given a rare blistering start to the Tigers, amassing 93 for the opening stand -- a Bangladesh record in World Cups – and keeping the sea of blue at the 37500-capacity stand silent for almost the entire course of the 14.4 overs they batted.

While the beginning was a raucous and uncommon one for the cricket-crazed fans of Bangladesh, the ending followed a familiar and common script. A mediocre score of 256 for eight and the 'achievement' of playing out the entire 50 overs -- all that the Tigers had left to show after their openers broke a 24-year-old record to surpass the previous best opening partnership of a 69-run stand between Mehrab Hossain and Shahriar Hossain in Bangladesh's historic victory over Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.

All the furor in recent times had been regarding the opening pair being unable to lay the platform. But when they finally did, an apparent ill-judgement -- that of not promoting the experienced duo of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad up the order to help keep the run roulette in motion -- from the team management dragged the team back to square one.

When Tanzid was trapped in front by leggie Kuldeep Yadav after a brilliant 51, Najmul Hossain Shanto, leading the Tigers on the day in the absence of injured Shakib Al Hasan, expectedly came in at number three.

What raised questions though was the team management's decision to make Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Towhid Hridoy follow suit in the batting order.

Since the Chandika Haturusingha-coached side has not been shy of shuffling and experimenting with the batting order even during events like the World Cup and the Asia Cup, it was only expected that the team management would be able to read the game situation and portray its flexibility once again.

Ergo, the move that probably would have made the most sense was promoting up the batting order an experienced campaigner in Mushfiqur, the top-scorer for Bangladesh in the World Cup so far and someone who is well-known for his ability to rotate strike much more comfortably than the ones who preceded him yesterday.

Shanto uncharacteristically had a bad day with the willow, using up 17 deliveries for his eight-run knock. Miraz, often the one to surprise everyone in challenging situations, scored three off 13 while Hridoy hobbled to 16 off 35 deliveries in a knock that included no boundaries.

All these knocks of below 50 strike rates did was pile up pressure on Liton, who, after a long while, was looking in his element. Having played 10 dots and smashing just two boundaries since Miraz came on, Liton tried to ease the pressure that had been building by trying to hit Ravindra Jadeja out of the park and ended up being caught.

The initial momentum was lost, and Bangladesh stayed content with yet another mediocre score -- thanks to a handy knock from Mushfiqur in the middle and some quickfire runs from Mahmudullah in the end.

And the outcome of the game, a seven-wicket defeat, was only befitting.