Review: A Series of lost Opportunities

India and Bangladesh locked horns once again this year and this time in a bilateral tournament. India chose to rest some of its key ODI players and injected some non-regular players in the ODI team. The timing of the series was questioned by many and as it turned out rain played a major spoil sport in the series.

A score of 2-0 might look like a convincing win for India but it was not the case. India got out to 105 in 2^nd ODI and was 119 for 9 in 3^rd ODI. There is no denial in the fact that Indian batting had a very poor run in the series.  Although India won the first game on D/L method but Indian batting strength could have been very well tested had we got a full 50 over game.  Although the conditions were not the best for batsmen as pitches had enough juice to trouble the batsmen, but none of the Indian batsmen showed skill and application to negotiate the tuff part and take the game further. India will face more and more of such bowler friendly conditions in the upcoming series against England and this team had two of India’s Test specialist in form of Rahane and Pujara.

If Indian batsmen failed to impress anyone, Bangladeshi’s were no different. Chasing a paltry total of 105 Bangladesh had a golden opportunity of defeating India and levelling the series. Bangladesh approach looked like a T20 approach as they wanted to chase 100 odd runs as fast as possible. It would have been much wiser had Bangladesh approached the game with more caution trying to play out full 50 overs.

Bowlers earned rich dividends in the series. Bangladesh unleashed young sensation Taksin Ahmed who picked up 7 seven in 2 games. His uncomplicated bowling action and ability to swing the ball impressed everyone. Where Mohit Sharma had good outings, Stuart Binny produced a magical spell of 4 for 6 to help India defend 105 in 2^nd ODI. The most impressive aspectof Binny’s spell was that he kept the things simple. But simple things are not always the easiest things to do on a Cricket field.

For Bangladesh, in the series they had their chancesbut not make use of opportunities to win any game.  India will also be well aware of the fact that though they came home with a trophy in hand, but their youngsters did not gain much from the tour.