Cricket: No Alternative But To Make Rahane Lead Second-String Team India For Zimbabwe Tour!

Finally all the IPL-weary Indian cricket superstars have to be rested, especially after the full-strength Team India failed to deliver in the just concluded Bangladesh tour losing the ODI series 1-2. The rested players are ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Test captain Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and spinner R Ashwin. With Dhoni not around some decisions became easier to take. Like dropping Ravindra Jadeja, bringing in Harbhajan Singh to the one day team after he made a comeback to the Test team in Bangladesh and selecting the captain for the second-string Team India for the tour of Zimbabwe starting 10th July. The tour consists of three one day internationals (ODI) and two T20 matches. This made-easy squad was announced by the BCCI national selectors in New Delhi today. 

Of course, having rested all the 'worthy' cricketers there was nobody 'worthy' enough to lead the team except for Ajinkya Rahane whose 'quality' is conveniently discovered now. After the humiliating defeat in the first Test against Bangladesh this very captain-now player was dropped for the second Test. This writer criticized the move mentioning his quality as a reliable batsman in these pages. But now, with no alternative available, the same player is named captain. Well, this is always a toss between the musts and the expendables that the Indian cricket Board exercises for team selection. And mind you, the BCCI has the 'wisdom' to justify the move of a forced second-string Team India on the ground of so-called preparations for the ICC World T20-2016. Their 'young blood' argument falls flat on so many occasions, yet they continue taking guard on the same. Maybe the Lalit Modi revelations regarding three star Indian cricketers may have some influence on the decisions notwithstanding the fact that the BCCI has given them all a clean chit. With the kind of storm Lalit Modi is creating all over the country anything seems to be plausible. 

Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Sandeep Sharma, Krn Sharma and Manoj Tiwary manage to get selected now. Now Murali Vijay too manages to come back to the team. His super form was immaterial when selection for the World Cup-2015 was made. Anyway, let us see what this team does in Zimbabwe after the tour was revived. 

The Indian Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), M Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma.

Cricket: Bangladesh Win First Ever ODI Series Against India!

Bangladesh have made history on the night of 21^st June, 2015 at Mirpur in Dhaka. On the first International Yoga Day they have made their golden day in cricket. They have won the first ever One Day International (ODI) cricket series against mighty India. Not only won, they have outplayed, mauled and humiliated India in all departments of the game and in every cricketing way possible. Bangladesh defeated India by 6 wickets with 9 overs to spare of the 47 allotted through D/L method due to rain interruption in the second ODI against India last evening. In the first ODI they won by 79 runs thus outclassing India in the series and taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match series. For the first time the erstwhile ‘minnows’ have beaten India in two back to back ODIs. The sensational débutante of the first ODI, Mustafizur Rahman took an incredible haul of 11 wickets and became the first bowler in the world to do so in his first two one day internationals. And, Bangladesh have qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy to be played in England in 2017. What is more significant is that they have deserved this fully—displaying tremendous cricketing abilities. From here they can only go up and up in the ladder of world cricket.

Whatever chance Team India had of regrouping and giving it back to Bangladesh in this do or die encounter was nipped in the bud when Team management ‘changed’ the team. The primary reason why India lost in the first ODI was the casual and complacent approach of mainly the superstars. But the management, as usual, ‘managed’ to axe only the expendables—Ajinkya Rahane who could have been invaluable on his day and bringing in an IPL expert Ambati Rayudu; Umesh Yadav who could have been lethal with his pace and bringing in another IPL expert Dhawal Kulkarni and Mohit Sharma who could have been encouraged to find his line and length and brining in Axa Patel who perhaps had nothing to prove except being close to the Indian captain.  Yet again, the superstars performed in almost the same way as before while the ‘changes’ hardly changed anything. Nobody in the management seems to be aware of the fact that Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and to a lesser extent Rohit Sharma continue to be out of form and unpredictable.

This series calls for a lot of introspection for Indian cricket. In fact except for the bright interlude in the World Cup-2015 Team India has not been performing to its potential. It has reached the climax now. If the usual complaint of ‘too much cricket’ is to be held valid then the two-moth long IPL tournament comes into deep focus. Maybe the Indian cricketers were too tired after giving in everything for the dollars of the IPL. And for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, undoubtedly the most successful and positive Indian captain, this could finally be the end of the road as far as at least captaincy is concerned. He had already escaped from Test captaincy and nothing is clicking for him at the moment. His batting form continues to be dismal, his wicket keeping not being of top class and his captaincy is coming to be questioned most frequently. His ‘protection’ within the cricket Board also seems to be gone. However, for a cricketer of his class he should decide fast before being unceremoniously axed. 

Cricket: Bangladesh Thrash India, Captain 'Cool' Loses It!

Bangladesh proved it precisely and clinically--that their cricketers are a spirited and hugely improved lot, that they beating Pakistan squarely was not a fluke, that they running India close to elimination from the World Cup-2015 was not an aberration, and that they have now avenged their exit from the World Cup effectively, so-called it might be though. They had excelled in every department of the game in the first One Day International match against India in Dhaka last evening thrashing and humiliating India by 79 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat first they raced to a big score right away, despite being put into a tight corner at least twice by India. The Indian pacers were made fun of and only some spinning ability prevented them from reaching even 400. There were no big individual scores, it being a total and spirited team effort. 

It seemed the Indian cricket superstars did not take them seriously enough. Even after conceding 307 runs Indian batsmen had a rather casual approach while chasing. A tight and beautiful pace bowling by the Bangladesh pacers beat both openers again and again, just missing the outside edge. Within first four overs both the openers could have been out. However, India did manage to have sound opening stand of 95 for no loss. Just then, Shikhar Dhawan had a lazy heave getting out caught behind. That started the slide of 'star' batsmen falling to casual shots. This is not to say that Bangladesh bowlers namely Taskin or Mustafizur were bowling loose. This is to say that the so-called quality batting of India had the potential to face up to it effectively. For once the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) made a correct decision sending a full-strength Indian squad, but the players could not muster the humility to treat them as at least equals. Mustafizur Rahman, making his ODI debut, had a brilliant haul of five wickets while keeper Mushfiqur Rahim held five great catches behind. At times Bangladesh tried a little too hard and was momentarily allowing the game to go the Indian way. 

When you make unnecessary mistakes you rue it very badly later, and get angry too. That was what probably happened to captain 'Cool' MS Dhoni. Seeing the match going away supposedly to a 'minnow' and that too due to his team's complacency he lost his cool and deliberately shoved Mustafizur on the way to a run. No doubt, Mustafizur cultivated a habit of standing on the batsman's way quite a few times in the match. But that did not permit the Indian captain to behave the way he did. This thrashing should act as an experience and also a warning for Team India in the following matches against Bangladesh, and perhaps in all their encounters against supposedly weaker sides. 

The Scorecard: