The century jinx and an odd order

The 158-run stand between Anamul Haque and Tamim Iqbal in the second ODI against Zimbabwe here yesterday was only the sixth time that Bangladesh's openers put up a century partnership in the first innings.

Unfortunately, the hosts failed to build on the solid foundation, managing to add just 93 more runs. Oddly enough, statistics show that the Tigers are more prone to collapses and even likely to lose games after their openers gave them a good start.

Prior to yesterday's game, which the hosts eventually won, Bangladesh lost four out of the five ODIs despite century stands from their openers, with the only win coming against Ireland in 2008. They tend to score below-par totals as well in these circumstances.

Back in 1999, openers Mehrab Hossain and Shahriar Hossain put on 170 in 35 overs against Zimbabwe. Bangladesh however ended up scoring just 257. Two other similar scenarios, both against Zimbabwe, saw them get bowled out for 183 in 2004 and 215 in 2001. In 2004, Hannan Sarker and late Manzarul Islam had put up 105 runs while in 2001, Al Shahriar and Javed Omar scored 103.

The collapses before 2005 can be understood; the Tigers after all were not used to winning matches back then. The dramatic fall in Chittagong yesterday however seemed puzzling.

As many as five changes were made in the batting order from the previous match and that seemed to have affected the Tigers' flow. With the World Cup around the corner and this being Bangladesh's last bilateral series, experiments are bound to take place. However, yesterday's ploy has certainly backfired.

Shakib Al Hasan, for instance, was promoted to number three -- for the first time in his career -- in order to up the run-rate. While Shakib was bowled first ball, on any other day he could have rolled on his merry way; but the fall of wicket of course, is beside the point.

Bangladesh's strategy to send in their 'hitters' ahead meant that Mominul Haque, who normally bats at number three, would have to come in at number seven; and despite scoring a fine 33, it's a position that clearly does not suit the left-hander. The role, in fact, seemed to suit Sabbir Rahman well in the first ODI on Friday here, where he powerfully finished the innings with two huge sixes. But he too was promoted to number five and ended up top-edging the second ball he faced.

That Bangladesh wanted to score a huge total was obvious; apart from the string of changes in the batting order they had also taken the batting powerplay in the 29th over. While the intent was positive, one feels that the hosts would have been better off making fewer changes in the order, especially after the wickets started falling.