Melbourne, January 7, 2010 (www.crickettomorrow.com)

Indians are mighty opposition. But Indians are not invincible. Relatively young Sri Lankans already proved that disciplined efforts can make the mighty Indians succumb as well. We hope that Bengal tigers will be positively focussed when the teams meet for their second match of the tri nation ODI today at Sher-E-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka. Both team lost the toss in the first match against Lankans and both struggled being asked to bat. Both scored almost identical scores. Both had top order collapse and almost had similar batting trend. Dilshan scored century against Bangladesh while Samaraweera did it against India. With two in two Sri Lanka is almost certain of playing in the final. If Bangladesh plays to its potential it can cause problem for India today. India will be hungry for the win. It is that time when a team is vulnerable. Bangladesh can exploit that situation.

We hope Bangladesh team think tank has already done post mortem of the first match. What went wrong for us? Did we have the right team and right combinations? Did we bat properly? Sri Lankan pace bowling was nothing extraordinary. Wicket did not play any tricks. Yet our top order batting except Ashrfaul crumbled to a rookie bowler Lakmal. Tamim threw his wicket, Rakibul and Shakib got out through nothing strokes. Yet rest of the batsmen led by talented Ashrfaul did well to reach 260, thanks to efforts of Musfiqur, Mahamudullah and of course Naeem. Wonder why Shahriar Nafees was ignored. He has tons of experience and he is in form batsman. We feel he must be in the starting line up against India. Imrul Kayes can not be preferred over Shahraiar. Inclusion of Aftab is difficult we understand. He has to replace Rakibul. In our opinion Rakibul is technically better batsman and will deliver soon. But there is no point ignoring Shahriar Nafees.

The other area where Bangladesh needs change is the new ball attack. Rubel and Shafiul both are good bowlers. But they are very raw. Against Shewag and Gambhir at least one experienced bowler will be required. Indians will come hard in the second match after loosing the first. Syed Russel with his swing will be useful to pair with Rubel.

Toss will be a vital factor. It is ridiculous that officials did not take this into account while scheduling matches. Who does not know that in January Bangladesh always get dew in the evening? Why matches could not start at least by 1PM everyday to avoid most of it. It has almost become a farce as bowlers find it extremely difficult to grip the wet ball in the evening. It no longer remains an even contest. Contests no longer remain confined on cricketing skills alone. There were talks about advancing matches by one hour. Nothing has been heard about it. In the two matches played so far Sri Lanka won the toss and won the matches batting second. 

Indian batting with Shewag not firing all guns struggled yesterday. Gambhir also departed early. Several players got start but other than Yuvraj none could convert. Young Sri Lankan bowlers bowled to a plan. Teams bowling second can not expect to win if it does not score at least 300 batting first as defending under dew condition creates additional challenge. Bangladesh must keep this in mind and plan accordingly. As mentioned earlier it will be a do or die match for both the teams. But Bangladesh has nothing to loose. Bangladesh must try to catch India on the wrong foot and exploit. Bangladesh was never tipped to win the tournament. But if India fails their reputation will be at stake. Bangladesh must take heart from its famous win in 2007 World Cup which knocked out India for the title chase. A good team selection and disciplined approach can make tigers repeat that performance again.

Our Bangladesh team for the match against India should be:
Tamim Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful, Rakibul Hasan, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahamudullah Riad, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Syed Russel, Rubel Hussain.

Sreesanth, Zaheer, Nehera, Jadeja and Harbhajan are not demons. Bangladesh must bat well against them. If Bangladesh can bowl and field well without panicking, win against India tomorrow can not be out of context.

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