Bangladesh need more exposure to compete against top-tier teams

If there's one thing this Women's Asia Cup 2024 has highlighted more than anything else, is a definitive tier list within women's cricket - but also, simultaneously, the solutions to bridging these ever more apparent chasms.

Just days after Bangladesh had routed Malaysia to secure their place in the semi-finals, the stompers swiftly became the stomped as the mighty Indian juggernaut rolled over them like an elephant might an anthill on its way to a watering hole.

While such one-sided contests are not uncommon within sports, it was the routine, almost expected nature of it that might have felt a little disheartening for those watching on. This didn't feel like a semi-final, this didn't even feel like a contest.

On to the actual matter of the game itself, it might have been a mistake by Bangladesh, in hindsight, to win the toss and bat first. India, as well rounded an outfit as they are, it is still their batting that makes the headlines - and the overwhelming feeling is that they, aided by this batting-friendly Dambulla track, would have chased much more than the 81 they were eventually tasked with running down. Though the speed and efficiency with which they took down the target suggests that perhaps giving this Indian line-up all of 20 overs to bat might have been equally unwise.

So yeah, of the two options, maybe the less fanciful one was indeed to put up a borderline competitive score and hope for the some Indian jitters. But this tenuous effort to work out win scenarios for Bangladesh probably speaks towards why the broadcast commentators were striving to scavenge any and all threads to manufacture the prospect of an upset - or even a contest. The closest they got was bringing up Bangladesh's unlikely Asia Cup final win against India in 2018, a tournament in which they had actually beaten India twice.

But, alas, that was six years ago, and this India team - favourites even back then - have come a long way since. Bangladesh in the meantime have stagnated.

And the reasons for this are quite simple. One is of course investment in players from the grassroots up, but more importantly its regular experience against the best sides. For all of Bangladesh's efforts, they rarely face this calibre of opposition outside of a major tournament, and that just isn't good enough.

Of Bangladesh's 12 bilateral T20I series since that 2018 final, they've had just one series against Australia - earlier this year - one against New Zealand, and two against India. India, by contrast, have squared off in eight bilateral series against one of England, Australia or New Zealand, while also having more bilateral series in total (17), in that same period.

"Going forward it's a good experience for the girls to play against a good side," Bangladesh head coach Hashan Tillakaratne told ESPNcricinfo after the game. "It's very important [to play more frequently against the better sides]. When you play against the best you develop yourself.

"It's all about knowledge - knowledge wins games - not skills. The skill is there, but they need to understand the game. [The best way to do that] is with higher-level competition. We must play constant matches against the best sides."

And one only needs to look at Sri Lanka to see the benefits that more frequent contests against high-calibre opposition can bring about. It wasn't long ago that Sri Lanka were essentially the Chamari Athapaththu team, and between a worldwide pandemic and a largely insipid cricket board they weren't really playing all that many games between major tournaments either.

But since 2022 they've managed to fit in bilateral series against India, England and New Zealand, among others - beating the latter two as well. The crucial aspect of this for Sri Lanka has also been that this period has coincided with the blooding in of young talent, all of whom are now gaining high-quality experience at a much younger age than those that came before them.

But even so, should Sri Lanka make it to the final, despite their recent form they will be considerable underdogs against this well-drilled Indian outfit - such is the advantage derived from proper investment and a head start. They, however, are on the right path and are steadily closing the gap, which means for sides like Bangladesh and those below the blueprint is there. It just needs to be followed.