Bangladesh’s batting order not in order

The positive is that Bangladesh batted the whole 50 overs, but they posted a total of 256/8 against India on a Pune pitch that looked great for batting during their ICC World Cup match on Thursday.

Needless to say, the total feels well below par on what looks a belter of a wicket and one feels India's brilliant batting order needed something over 300 to really challenge them.

But at the same time, nothing can be taken away from the Indian bowlers, especially Jaspreet Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

The trio kept things uber tight and ensured Bangladesh never really got going in the middle overs or at the death - a feature of the Indian bowling throughout the tournament so far. 

But the main concern will be over the batting order of the Bangladesh team.

They were 93 for no loss as the two openers - Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Litton Das - managed to get starts and got Bangladesh's best opening stand in the tournament so far.

Once Tamim departed for a sparkling 51 from 43 balls, the stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto came on to bat with Shakib Al Hasan still recovering from injury.

Litton was going fluently at the other end but Shanto departed before really getting set, thanks to some excellent bowling by Jadeja.

With Bangladesh still having a good run rate at 110/2 after 20 overs, Mehidy Hasan Miraz was once again brought in, instead of the in-form Mushfiqur Rahim or Mahmudullah Riyad.

It was at that stage where Bangladesh could have continued to attack India's bowlers and score freely but instead Miraz was dismissed for just three runs off 13 balls.

Miraz might have worked for a few matches up the order as a makeshift opener but the decision to not have your most accomplished batter next was baffling and that gave the momentum away to the hosts.

What was even more baffling was the next batter after Miraz's dismissal being the struggling Towhid Hridoy.

The right-handed batter, who started his ODI career very well, has been facing problems with the fuller ball and his front foot game with opposition bowlers working him out.

His painstaking innings of 16 from 35 balls with no boundaries in it not only slowed down Bangladesh's batting but also led to Litton getting frustrated at the other end and getting out trying to play a pressure-releasing shot when he was on 66. 

Whether it's the captain Shakib or the coach Chandika Hathurusingha making these decisions, it's clearly not helping Bangladesh get the best out of their batting.

Mushfiq and Mahmudullah would get their time in the middle but by then the damage was already done as Bangladesh were 179/5 after 37.2 overs. 

Them coming on earlier for the Tigers could have added another 30 runs to the total at least and given India a more challenging target to chase.