Is it going to be a “Banglawash” tomorrow? Bangladesh have got into a habit of trouncing the opposition in One Day Internationals. They first demolished Zimbabwe 5-0, then dismantled Pakistan 3-0, and look set to whitewash the Indians 3-0. Indians don’t normally lose in ODIs like that, so this is a completely new experience for them.
Understandably, the Indians are tense as they prepare for tomorrow’s do-or-die clash. A 3-0 loss to a team such as Bangladesh would be too much of a humiliation to bear for this Indian team, who cannot offer any excuse as they have their very best ODI squad in Bangladesh.
Captain MS Dhoni has looked clueless in the limited opportunities that he has got here in Bangladesh so far, and already there are calls for him to be sacked from ODI captaincy. Dhoni bristled at the thought when asked about his future by the media in Bangladesh.
He said: “I am really enjoying my cricket. I know this question was coming. I know the media really loves me. These are the questions that will keep popping up. Yes, if it is a justifiable thing that if you remove me and the Indian cricket will start doing really well, and if I am the reason for all the bad that is happening to Indian cricket, definitely.
“I would love to step away and play as a player. Ultimately you want India to win. It doesn’t matter who is the captain. I was never really in line to become a captain. It was a job or responsibility for me. I have taken that responsibility. It was given to me, I took it. If they want to take it away, I am happy to give it away.
“What is more important is to play for the country and contribute to the team and try to keep the dressing-room atmosphere good. So that whenever youngsters are coming in, they can come and perform. That will be the ultimate achievement for me. Also, it is slightly different. Indian cricket had been used to players coming in toned, ready for international cricket. Now it has changed. You have to grind it through. Cricket has changed and all that. We have had tough times. That’s what cricket is all about. You can’t win every series you play.”
Clearly, Dhoni and the media share a love-hate relationship! What is obvious is that the Indian team are rattled. Dropping Ajinkya Rahane, who has been India’s most consistent batsman across all formats for the past year was a strange decision to say the least.
It does seem that Dhoni has a coterie around him and whoever is within this cozy club doesn’t get dropped, no matter how they perform. Indian fans are already questioning the presence of Dhoni’s friends, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in the team.
Bangladesh have no such problems. They have a found a pack of fast bowlers who are at the Indians all the time, relentlessly attacking the Indian batsmen. New players like Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das have come good while the older players Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza are as good as ever.
As much as we hate to say this, there is only going to be one team that wins tomorrow’s match, and it isn’t going to be India.
Team news
Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Litton Das/ Mominul Haque/ Rony Talukdar, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Sabbir Rahman, 7 Nasir Hossain, 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Rubel Hossain/Jubair Hossain, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin Ahmed
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ambati Rayudu/ Ajinkya Rahane/ Stuart Binny, 5 Suresh Raina 6 MS Dhoni (capt &wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Axar Patel, 11 Dhawal Kulkarni
Match Conditions
There should be some rain at Mirpur tomorrow, but we should have all 100 overs of the match. The wicket promises to be as flat as ever, as you would expect with Bangladeshi pitches.
Watch India take on Bangladesh in the 3rd and last ODI of the series at 2:30 PM on Wednesday live on Star Sports.
