Pride at stake for Team India
New Delhi: From months of torturous malfunctioning to desperately needing a revival of fortunes, the Indian team are in Bangladesh under a new, but temporary management.
The World Cup debacle, which was inflicted on them largely because of a pugnacious performance by their eastern neighbours, has sent the chosen eleven out of the blue-over-a-billion in a tizzy.
Parliamentarians had vented their ire much before; furious viewers took to the streets while selectors chose a clamp on the players, whose contracts looked set to be put to the sword.
So, are the three one day internationals and two Tests enough chance for redemption as part of this new era?
Avenging a one-off ODI loss with a relatively longer series may offer more than that. But a single blow - that led to India's failure, and outgoing coach Greg Chappell questioning the credentials of world beaters like Sachin Tendulkar and other senior cricketers - re-ignites the debate of lack of real talent unearthed over the past decade.
The team selected for both Tests and one-dayers has only thrown up a handful of new cricketers’ names. While the one-day team boasts of Bengal's 24-year-old Manoj Tiwary and teenage UP leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, the Test side has Baroda's Rajesh Pawar as the solitary new face. The rest of the men include former discards and under fire non-performers from the World Cup.
Salvaging tarnished reputations is paramount for some of the seniors, while talented newcomers and reinstated discards alike, will look to cement their place in at least one of the two sides. For Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Mongia, R P Singh and VRV Singh, this tour may be their last shot to cement a place.
Add to all this, there is no vice-captain. For skipper Rahul Dravid and the team management have been assigned the job as selectors "rested" themselves after picking 22 men to take charge post-debacle.
Yuvraj Singh, once touted as the heir apparent to Dravid, suddenly seems to have dropped out of favour. The batsman is now left with regaining his fluent touch.
Sachin Tendulkar's reluctance to take up the post perhaps did him in with the deputy's job as well. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik are too raw to fit that bill just yet. Handing over the successor's reigns to different people for the two varieties of the game seems unlikely.
Indian cricket has indeed hit its lowest in a long time. Coming out of a string of defeats, barring series wins at home against West Indies and Sri Lanka, has become a Herculean task.
Chances for new faces are at a premium. Anil Kumble's retirement from the shorter version of the game and Harbhajan Singh's absence means two spinners' places are up for grabs.
While Ramesh Powar counted himself unfortunate at the World Cup, he now has the chance to seal his spot in both forms of the game. Nineteen-year-old Piyush Chawla, having a played a handful of games before, will hope to keep India's leg-spinning future in safe hands.
Among the Test prospects is left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, who has had a first-class season studded with wickets.
There is a bruised war-veteran too. VVS Laxman's dreams of playing in a World Cup were left shattered, but the elegant batsman will be keen to prove to the selectors just what they have missed on over the years once he takes the field for the Test series.
A series victory in Bangladesh may not quite prove to be revenge, but another defeat in either form may just inflict more damage to a disastrous World Cup campaign.
Next Page: Statistics of India vs Bangladesh
| India vs Bangladesh in One-Day Internationals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary of results | ||||
Matches | India | Bangladesh | NR | |
| In India | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| In Bangladesh | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Neutral Venue | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 |
| India vs Bangladesh in One-Day Internationals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match results | ||||
Date | Venue | Result | Scores | MOM |
| 27-10-1988 | Chittagong | Ind won by 9 wkts | BD 99-8 (45)/Ind 100-1 (26) | NS Sidhu |
| 25-12-1990 | Chandigarh | Ind won by 9 wkts | BD 170-6 (50)/Ind 171-1 (36.5) | NS Sidhu |
| 05-04-1995 | Sharjah | Ind won by 9 wkts | BD 163 (44.4)/Ind 164-1 (27.5) | M Prabhakar |
| 24-07-1997 | Colombo SSC | Ind won by 9 wkts | BD 130-8 (43)/Ind 132-1 (15) | SC Ganguly |
| 10-01-1998 | Dhaka | Ind won by 4 wkts | BD-190 (48)/Ind-191-6 (46.2) | J Srinath |
| 14-05-1998 | Mohali | Ind won by 5 wkts | BD 184-9 (50)/Ind 185-5 (45.2) | A Jadeja |
| 25-05-1998 | Mumbai WS | Ind won by 5 wkts | BD 115 (36.3)/Ind 116-5(29.2) | A Kumble |
| 30-05-2000 | Dhaka | Ind won by 8 wkts | BD 249-6 (50)/Ind 252-2 (40.1) | SC Ganguly |
| 11-04-2003 | Dhaka | Ind won by 200 runs | Ind 276 (49.3)/BD 76 (27.3) | Yuvraj Singh |
| 16-04-2003 | Dhaka | Ind won by 4 wkts | BD 207 (49.4)/Ind 208-6 (42.5) | G Gambhir |
| 21-07-2004 | Colombo SSC | Ind won by 8 wkts | BD 177 (49.1)/Ind 178-2 (38.3) | SR Tendulkar |
| 23-12-2004 | Chittagong | Ind won by 11 runs | Ind 245-8 (50)/BD 234-8 (50) | M Kaif |
| 26-12-2004 | Dhaka | BD won by 15 runs | BD 229-9 (50)/Ind 214 (47.5) | Mashrafe Mortaza |
| 27-12-2004 | Dhaka | Ind won by 91 runs | Ind 348-5 (50)/BD 257-9 (50) | V Sehwag |
| 17-03-2007 | Port of Spain | BD won by 5 wkts | Ind 191 (49.3)/BD 192-5 (48.3) | Mashrafe Mortaza |
| Note: Matches in bold were day-night affairs. | ||||