India-Bangladesh soap opera set for new season

It was all telenovela in 2015. MS Dhoni as the hero who had gone on to be perceived as villain. “If I am the reason for all the bad that is happening to Indian cricket, definitely I would love to step away.” R Ashwin was the steadfast sidekick. “If my captain asks me to die on the field, I’ll do it.” And Mustafizur Rahman was the shy, rising star; he had become a world-record holder after playing two ODIs and you could barely get two words out of him. All he would do was flash that big, toothy grin and say he was happy to perform for the team. There is no sign of a resumption of the ad wars, but the rest of the protagonists are back for season two, with the added twist of an Asia Cup and World T20 implications.

Bangladesh’s limited-overs team has maintained their Mirpur stronghold jealously since failing to chase 106 against India in 2014. They have played 19 matches and won 14 of them. The trouble is, out of those five losses, three have come in T20Is. With their one-day cricket in prime order, the coach Chandika Hathurusingha has been concentrating on building skills that are vital to success in the shortest format. The team goes into the Asia Cup after a couple of camps in Khulna and Chittagong.

India are not light on preparation either. They have been playing T20 cricket since the start of the year (the carnival continues through to May with the IPL) and are quite certain of their first XI. The only issue might be is some of the players in that XI have not had enough match practice. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and the returning Virat Kohli have been merciless in their plunder of runs that the middle order has not had much to do. Over six matches, Yuvraj Singh has faced only 26 balls and rookie allrounder Hardik Pandya 18. India do not seem to be worried though, as both Dhoni and Kohli have said their players are well tuned to T20 cricket thanks to the IPL.

Yuvraj Singh signs in at the dotted line under returning old favourites. Fifteen years since his international debut, he is still madly sought after. The last three IPL auctions have netted him a whopping Rs 37 crores. At the team hotel in Dhaka, he was spirited aside by a few players from the Oman team to take some pictures and share some secrets. It is unlikely that anyone will ever forget what happened the last time he was in these parts, but with a Sri Lanka rematch and a clash with Pakistan around the corner, maybe he has the opportunity to do something about that.

Mahmudullah signs in at the dotted line under captain’s understudy. He is seen as an option to take over Bangladesh after Mashrafe Mortaza having led Barisal Bulls, a team sans any big names, into the final of the Bangladesh Premier League. But he is not seen as the best fit for T20s. He tends to be grilled about his strike-rate a lot and when the question was put forward this time, he quipped that he will try to hit the first ball he faces in the Asia Cup for six.