Why India's tour of Bangladesh is a waste of time and energy

A Bangladesh tour to prepare for a 5-match Test series in England. Really, what can possibly go wrong?

Of all the idiotic, asinine, half-witted things the BCCI has done, this has got to take the cake. It takes stupidity to a whole new level. And this from an organization that came up with the IPL!

Brace yourselves.

India will tour Bangladesh for a three-ODI series during the window between the IPL final on June 1 and their departure for England on June 22. The three ODIs will be played in Dhaka on June 15, 17 and 19.

I’d really like to believe that the BCCI isn’t run by a bunch of blithering idiots, but it’s hard to understand the logic behind this tour, from a cricketing point of view. But then again, the BCCI never did let things like logic and cricketing well-being dictate the way they act. Why start now?

This tour was thought up in February. Around the same time that the ICC Revamp was proposed. Clearly, it is the boardroom equivalent of a leather jacket or whatever else dear old Hansie got. It is a well-documented fact that all the BCCI cares about is money. It is rumoured that there is a recording of Stone Cold Steve Austin shouting ‘And that’s the bottom line!’ that is played every time the BCCI finishes discussing financial matters.

Or maybe, I’ve got this whole thing a** backwards.

Maybe those gentlemen at the BCCI have an ulterior motive that mere mortals like you and me couldn’t possibly fathom, sort of when they picked Viscount Vinay Kumar. We look at askance at the timing of this tour, but Huey, Dewey, and Louie down at BCCI headquarters smile knowingly and wait for the magic to unfold.

Clearly the best way to prepare for a rigorous tour of England is to play 3 meaningless games against Bangladesh. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. England acted like Bangladesh in Australia. What better way to prepare for the new Bangladesh than playing Bangladesh? It’s brilliant! It gives the term scouting your opponent a whole new dimension.

Most teams like to acclimatise to conditions before they play cricket. I’m sure MS Dhoni and Co would like that too. But there’s a fatal flaw in this line of reasoning. If you can’t see it, now you know why you don’t work for the BCCI.

What would happen if the BCCI sent players to England a couple of weeks after the IPL, if we played more than the two warm ups that will probably be interrupted by rain? Overconfidence would happen, that’s what. Players would take a lackadaisical attitude toward the task at hand. Much better to have them racing against the clock to get used to English conditions.

Murphy’s Law states that everything that can go wrong will. That is what happened last time in England. Several key players were injured and it was used an excuse for the pummelling we received. The BCCI in its infinite wisdom has decided to get a head start on this. Sending the team for a meaningless tour of Bangladesh is like doing a dance with stray balls on the outfield for the cricketing Gods. Why try and do well in England when you can come up with an excuse for failure beforehand?

The tour of Bangladesh is a waste of time and energy, but not money. And let’s face it, that’s really all the BCCI cares about.It’s really too bad that nobody has showed them the other thing that Mr Austin would do.