Powerless batting from toothless Tigers leads to an early World Cup exit

As Bangladesh succumbed to a meagre total of 84 all-out in 18.2 overs against South Africa, whatever slim chance they had of qualifying for the semifinals dissipated. 

But more importantly, it highlighted a problem that has been haunting the team historically - how to bat and build an innings in T20 cricket.

No power-hitters or strike rotators 

One of Bangladesh's biggest weaknesses in T20 cricket has been the lack of power-hitters - players that can hit sixes from ball one. 

And if we look closer, another weakness has to be the failure to rotate the strike and the huge percentage of dot balls the team concedes while batting.

Bangladesh came into the tournament with three consecutive T20I series wins over Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand.

Although the wins against Australia and New Zealand were a first for Bangladesh, the pitches in Mirpur and the low totals it had been producing were a cause for concern among fans and many within the cricketing fraternity. 

Add to that, the decision by Tamim Iqbal to opt out of the tournament was initially seen as a progressive decision, but the lack of runs and consistency from the other openers came back to bite the Tigers. 

Bangladesh jostled with their opening combo as a result as Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and Naim Sheikh all failed to give the team a bright start. 

The form of Mushfiqur Rahim at no.4 was also a worry leading into the tournament, and apart from a 57-run innings off 37 balls against Sri Lanka, the experienced batter has had a tournament to forget. 

Captain Mahmudullah Riyad has also struggled for consistency and the same can be said for Shakib Al Hasan. 

Afif Hossain has been a name that was hyped up but he too has failed to deliver on that hype and his wreckless form of dismissal against South Africa, where he was bowled for a golden duck, summed up his tournament. 

Literally, none of the top seven scored runs consistently and that has been a problem for quite some time now; the pitches in Mirpur did not help their form or confidence either. 

The numbers don't lie

Bangladesh had a run rate of just 5.41 during the Powerplay overs, the third-lowest after Namibia and Papua New Guinea, showing just how poor the top order has been.

England, who have already qualified for the semifinals and look to be one of the favourites to win the T20 World Cup have a run rate of 7.95 in the Powerplays. 

Afghanistan are another team that are contenders for a semi spot and they have the highest run rate in the Powerplays - 8.55 - which goes to show just how important a good start in batting has been. 

Now if we talk about dot balls, Bangladesh have given 283 dot balls in seven matches with an average of 41 dot balls per match. 

In comparison, England and Pakistan (another team that has qualified for the semifinals) give 28 and 37 dot balls per match. 

Moving on to the number of sixes hit, Bangladesh have managed just six sixes in their four Super 12 matches, the lowest among teams to have played at least three Super 12 games. 

Even newcomers Namibia have managed 11 sixes in three matches while England and Afghanistan have managed 22 sixes each, the highest in the Super 12s. 

Overall, it's clear that batting has been a massive problem for the Tigers for a while.

Add some sloppy fielding and bowling that has failed to show killer instinct when the opposition have been on the ropes, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Bangladesh have problems everywhere, but batting is an issue that has been a problem for a long time in T20 cricket with no signs of getting better. 

If Bangladesh want to get better here, wholesale changes and a rethink of the domestic system will be of utmost importance.