India’s tour of Bangladesh - The Squad Analysis

India’s tour of Bangladesh – The Squad Analysis: On comes another exciting season of cricket, the one which promises to throw up new stars and also to resurrect the careers of the older ones in Indian cricket. A lot of plans culminated with the conclusion of the 2015 cricket world cup. Safe to argue that Indian cricket is entering into a phase which will decide whether India can assert the same dominance as the financial might it possesses in the world of cricket. Since they won’t travel outside the subcontinent for the next two years, one has to be careful in judging performances or heaping instant praises. Sourav Ganguly once said that no matter what, Indian cricket will eventually be judged by its overseas shows. The selection for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh has been a surprising one considering its proximity to the IPL. Where rest for key players would have been on expected lines, the selectors have decided to go with a full strength squad. Let us have a detailed look at the ODI and Test squads and the prospects of this tour for the selected guys.

Test Team:

The captaincy baton has finally been handed over to Virat Kohli on a permanent and settled basis. Considered the eventual successor of Dhoni for a long time, Virat has already shown glimpses of what the world should expect of him. To put it simply, he is ready to lose a match in trying to win it. There was ample evidence of his leadership style in the Adelaide test of the Australia series. Virat has been vocal in his belief to play five regular bowlers and go for the kill. This is in some contrast to what his predecessor Dhoni followed, at least in test cricket. He believes in making things happen rather than playing the waiting game.

The most discussed selection was of the veteran off spinner Harbhajan Singh. The 34 year old last represented India during the home test series against Australia in 2013. Sandip Patil, the chairman of selectors made it clear that his selection was as much due to his IPL form as with the consideration of the number of left handers in the Bangladesh line up. With the series not intended as a farewell gesture by the BCCI, Bhajji would be looking to make a strong return to the side and announce his comeback in style. Getting into the test side gives him ample chances to get into the groove. It would also be interesting to see if Kohli goes into the test with two off spinners.

Shikhar Dhawan might consider himself lucky to make it to the test squad with his horrendous test form and KL Rahul coming good with the bat. The middle order looks solid with Rohit and Pujara to go with India’s new overseas saviour Ajinkya Rahane. Wriddhiman Saha is pretty certain to get a long run after having to live under the shadow of Dhoni for a substantial part of his career. He is unanimously believed to be the best wicketkeeper of the country. With Shami ruled out due to injury, the pace bowling duties would be shared by Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav. Men with pace will be preferred in the eleven keeping in mind the unresponsive pitches of Bangladesh.

Jadeja is a notable absentee from the team and a deserving one at that. His CSK team mate Raina did enough to miss the team with his twin ducks in the Sydney test. Karan Sharma adds variety to the spin bowling resources with his wrist spin skills. India needs to be wary and not go into the series with complacency in their mind.

ODI Side:

The team for the ODI series will be led by regular skipper MS Dhoni and barring Shami who is replaced by Dhawal Kulkarni, features the same set of players who played the World Cup. A look at the team, and we would not know if we are actually playing Bangladesh. The attitude of the selection committee shows that they acknowledge the strength of the Bangla tigers at home and want to take no risks. Bangladesh would also be high on confidence, courtesy their impressive showing at the World Cup followed by an ODI series win over Pakistan.

They are perfectly capable of toppling India and the visitors will have to put up their A game if they are to enjoy any success in their backyard. With the crumbling nature of the Mirpur pitch, Dhoni might well go into the games with 3 spinners. Axar Patel would be hoping to play ahead of Jadeja with the lack of form of the latter. The pacers will be tested to the hilt in the batsmen friendly conditions. Stuart Binny will have sweet memories from the last time he played here. His 6 wicket haul in the previous Asia Cup helped India defend a paltry 105.

On the other hand Bangladesh would look to continue their winning run from the Pakistan series and extract sweet revenge from India for the defeat in the world cup quarters. If the tigers can get their act together and play to their potential, they are pretty sure to give India a run for their money. Packed stadiums, vociferous fans and two exciting sides, the viewers are set to enjoy a close contest.