Decoding the importance of India's tour to Bangladesh

The world’s busy watching football, but the Suresh Raina-led Indian side can’t afford any slip-ups in Bangladesh

Come Sunday and India will play first of their three one day matches against Bangladesh in Dhaka. IPL is over and we are back to international commitments. It was expected that most of the first-line players would be rested for this tour and as many as eleven players are not part of the team that toured New Zealand in February. There is no hype around the tour and with the FIFA World Cup set to commence before the Indian tour begins, this series will be devoid of the attention which is usually associated with Indian cricket.

This tour may just look as a mere formality, but it still holds a great significance, keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup.

At the moment, the Indian one day team appears to be far from settled. The last ODI won by India was way back in November in the home series against the West Indies. India has played seven complete ODIs since and hasn’t tasted success yet. More importantly, all these matches have been on foreign soil. Indian bowling has been at an all-time low, leaking scores of over 300 consistently. The batting has been good on homemade dry pitches but once the pitches turn lively, batsmen keep faltering time and again.

For the Bangladesh series, this Indian side will be led by Suresh Raina. The batting onus will lie mainly on the likes of Robin Uthappa and Ajinkya Rahane who will open the innings. Cheteshwar Pujara has always expressed his desire to be a part of India’s ODI squad but hasn’t been able to capitalize on the few chances so far. The Bangladesh tour will provide him with a great opportunity to showcase his run-making skills in the shorter format as well.

After being dropped from the Asia Cup squad, this is a comeback of sorts for Suresh Raina. He had a successful stint in both the World T20 and IPL, and with the added responsibility of captaincy, he will surely relish this opportunity to prove his mettle again. India desperately need someone at the number 4 position, who can consolidate the innings initially and if required to go big, can change his game accordingly as well.

India experimented with Raina and Rahane at that position, but unsuccessfully. With Yuvraj Singh out of reckoning, this position is surely up for grabs. According to the FTP, India’s last ODI assignment before the World Cup is against England. Other one day assignments may be decided in the future but good performances in foreign conditions always enhance a cricketer’s CV. There has been a lot of debate around Umesh Yadav’s omission from the England Test squad. A good performance by him with the ball will certainly boost his chances for the ODIs in England.

There have been certain dubious decisions for this tour and one of them was resting Rohit Sharma. If the selectors wanted to try a new captain he should have been the next choice after Virat Kohli was rested. Raina captained India on the Zimbabwe tour few years ago and didn’t impress much. Rohit would have been an ideal choice now for he captained Mumbai Indians for two seasons now and further would have allowed the selectors to assess his captaincy at the international stage as well. Rohit’s recent limited overs form hasn’t been too great and some runs in Bangladesh would have certainly boosted his confidence before the England tour.

Gautam Gambhir hasn’t been selected for the Bangladesh squad but is a part of the Test squad touring England. Getting some match practice in Bangladesh would have done him no harm for he last played an international match a year ago, against England in home conditions.

The Bangladesh tour is a very short one with just three ODIs being played at the same venue. The captain of the Bangladesh cricket team, Mushifiqur Rahim has tried to add some spice to the series. He termed the current Indian selection as disrespectful with key Indian players being rested for the series. The world might just be talking about football at the moment, but I bet every Indian player on the Bangladesh tour understands how important the tour is for their respective cricketing careers.