Poor shot selection coupled with improper execution pushed Bangladesh on the back foot against Zimbabwe at stumps on the first day of the opening Test of the two-match series at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

With no media hype, very little crowd at the stadium and having preferred opponents at their own backyards, the stage was set for the Bangladeshi batters to score big runs on a sporting track in Sylhet after the hosts had opted to bat first.

However, Bangladesh batters suffered a batting collapse, going from 98-2 to 191 all out in the first innings to pose a valid question to all: "Has Bangladesh forgotten how to bat in red-ball cricket?"

Although Bangladesh won three of their last six away Test matches, those victories were mostly orchestrated by their bowlers' impressive performances.

However, collectively, the batting has let the Tigers down in majority of occasions -- both at home and away. In the last 17 innings played over the last one year, Bangladesh batters have failed to cross the 200-run mark on eight occasions.

On Sunday, after losing two early wickets, Bangladesh would have hoped that their experienced batters such as Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim would bail them out.

However, all three of them played wrong shots at the wrong time, leaving Bangladesh in all sorts of trouble from which they failed to recover.

Senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin was asked the reason behind this disappointing batting show from the Tigers. The experienced coach accepted the team failed as a batting unit.

Bangladesh batters got out to rash shots mostly. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

"I think there is no point in blaming the wickets. The wicket was fantastic. Zimbabwe batters batted really well. I think it's possible to bat well on this wicket," Salahuddin told reporters after the end of the day's play.

"I think we had a lacking in execution and tactically we made mistakes. When the boys were batting, they didn't look uncomfortable or lacking in confidence. We also made poor shot selections," he said, adding that the lack of match awareness is a big problem for the batting unit.

"I think it's important to come out of the problem [lack of match awareness]. It's not like it wouldn't happen. But we need to solve it quickly. You can make mistakes. But if you make mistakes repeatedly, it is a big problem. We need to be careful to not make repeated mistakes."

Salahuddin, however, hoped that the players can make a comeback quickly as he found the players conscious about their self-improvement. 

"What I can say is that the boys are trying to change a lot of things mentally and they are very conscious about their self-improvement. Probably we have played very poorly today.  But we can't say that they aren't trying and they don't have the urge to become great players," he said.