Pressure mounting on Tamim, but do Tigers have anyone better than him?

Prior to the second ODI between Bangladesh and Ireland in Chelmsford on Friday, Bangladesh had scored 300 or more four times in successful ODI run chases away from home and Tamim Iqbal had vital contributions in all of them (two hundreds and a fifty). He had an average of 102 and a strike-rate of 105 in successful 300-plus chases and naturally Bangladesh would rely on him the most when they were given a target of 320 in 45 overs to win.

But times have changed. Tamim, despite being the captain of the side, is no longer the force he once was. Right now, he is the longest-playing active opener in this format, making his debut way back in 2007, and is part of a three-member group that was part of the 2007 World Cup and is going to play in the 2023 World Cup as well. As captain of one of the most experienced ODI squads at the moment, is Tamim doing enough?

Tamim has only one fifty in the last 10 innings in ODIs. In fact, his average of 33 is lower than seven Bangladesh batters since the start of 2022. 

His scoring rate has also come under scrutiny. His strike-rate of 78 is the fourth-lowest among Full Member batters in ODIs in the last 12 months. Most of the time, openers set the tone in ODIs by making the most of field restrictions in the first ten overs.

In the 2019 World Cup, England's Jason Roy was the fastest-scoring opener (strike-rate of 115.4). Jonny Bairstow had a good strike-rate (92.9) too. These two were two of the top three quickest scorers in the first 10 overs in the 2017-2019 period. There was a reason why England won the World Cup.

But is Tamim Iqbal keeping up with the fast-moving nature of modern-day cricket? The global mean strike-rate (Full Members) in the last two years for openers is 86.8. Tamim's partner Litton Das is close (strike-rate of 84) but Tamim is striking at 80, higher than only Aaron Finch (retired) and Shikhar Dhawan (dropped) among openers of the top 10 teams.

This is a World Cup year and Tamim has never been a man for the World Cups. This time, he will have the additional responsibility of being the captain of the team. Some of his captaincy calls and fielding came under speculation in the second Ireland ODI and many in social media and cricketing platforms want him to leave captaincy and his spot in the XI. 

But have Bangladesh found a better replacement? Litton has his issues against the moving ball. Rony Talukdar is travelling with the team as a backup opener but yet to get a game. Zakir Hasan was picked for the Ireland home ODIs, only to get injured before the series. Even he is uncapped in ODIs. There are a couple of openers - Anamul Haque and Mohammad Naim - performing in domestic List A cricket but everyone knows about the quality of cricket there. 

Bangladesh have failed to produce an opener who can take the opener's baton from Tamim for a longer period of time. There could be an option of having Najmul Hossain Shanto as opener but it won't be a wise move after his scintillating century at number three.

It's not the right time to appoint a new captain as well. The conflict between the senior players and the cricket board is well-documented and a chaotic situation may arise if Bangladesh want a major overhaul. 

For Tamim, it's important to get back to scoring runs. All said and done, he will be one of the important players for Bangladesh in the World Cup and this could be his last major ICC event. His bat spoke when he found himself almost out of the 2012 Asia Cup squad. 11 years later, he is under pressure again. Tamim has been there and done that. Will he be able to again shut the critics? Only time has the answer.