*Official* India in Bangladesh 2015

[Pratters]

Ravi Shastri appointed interim coach for India.

 

[Pratters]

Wed Jun 10 - Sun Jun 14 10:00 local (04:00 GMT | 09:30 IST)
Only Test - Bangladesh v India
Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah
LIVE N/A Thu Jun 18 (50 ovs) 14:30 local (08:30 GMT | 14:00 IST)
1st ODI - Bangladesh v India
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
LIVE D/N N/A Sun Jun 21 (50 ovs) 14:30 local (08:30 GMT | 14:00 IST)
2nd ODI - Bangladesh v India
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
LIVE D/N N/A Wed Jun 24 (50 ovs) 14:30 local (08:30 GMT | 14:00 IST)
3rd ODI - Bangladesh v India
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Pretty disappointed that the lone Test will be played at Fatullah. Temperature is around 37-38 C these days around the area and the pitch is an absolute road. Might offer something for the spinners from 4th day but very little.

 

[honestbharani]

I hate one off tests... They might as well have played no tests

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Don't know how they agree on scheduling. Absurd.

 

[Pratters]

Pretty disappointed that the lone Test will be played at Fatullah. Temperature is around 37-38 C these days around the area and the pitch is an absolute road. Might offer something for the spinners from 4th day but very little.

Cricket in May/June in the subcontinent is plain cruel conditions for the players.

 

[Contra]

Good to see Harby back in the test squad. Missed out on some freebie wickets in the last few years given the Indian pitches.

 

[eroticfishcake]

I hate one off tests... They might as well have played no tests

BCB offered that but dumb BCCI refused it

 

[Daemon]

Good to see Harby back in the test squad. Missed out on some freebie wickets in the last few years given the Indian pitches.

Not really tbf. He played 3 games at home since being dropped initially in England and didn't outperform (or even do that well) the others at all.

 

[Niall]

One test is better than nothing I suppose, at least we get to see if Harby has anything to offer on at international level, would be great with a lot of sc series coming up for India to have another spinning option.

 

[Teja.]

Frothing for some Rahane tests action.

 

[honestbharani]

Good to see Harby back in the test squad. Missed out on some freebie wickets in the last few years given the Indian pitches.

He was not doing that consistently for the last 12 years he was a regular in the side, sure he would have done it in the last 2.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

If it is a draw in the test, India drops back to no7 in the rankings and NZ returns to its rightful place at no3.

I hope Mominul bats for 3 days and breaks Lara's record.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

They will never realize that Rubel is no good in longer version. He is the only change in the Test squad announced today.

Bangladesh Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Shuvagata Hom, Taijul Islam, Mohammad Shahid, Rubel Hossain, Jubair Hossain, Litton Das, Abul Hasan.

 

[Contra]

Not really tbf. He played 3 games at home since being dropped initially in England and didn't outperform (or even do that well) the others at all.

The context in which he was picked was hardly ideal tbh, "Oh look, England can't play spin, lets throw Bhajji in there too for lolz", " oh Harby always does well against Aus, lets give him a go, Aussies suck anyways lol". Can't just pick and drop at random, Harbhajan has always been a confidence bowler anyways, not the guy who will bowl well if he feels he's gonna get the boot the next test.

My point is that the kind of pitches India has produced since 2011 WI series have been largely TYPICAL Indian wickets that aid spin, which is different from that lame 07-10 period where India produced at least 1 or 2 highway wickets everytime someone toured, giving overseas teams a false sense of security of being able to play spin on the SC, and then those same teams had a cry when they came across pitches that actually turned.

You can't honestly tell me that Harby wouldn't have taken a bagful against Windies (5 tests since 2011) and done reasonably well against Aus/NZ/England if given a proper go. I'm not trying to suggest that he's better than Ashwin/other spinners that have played in the last few years, but Harby's "decline" is as much to do with the kind of pitches he played on as the lack of flight and "dart" bowling that everyone uses criticize.

Lets also not forget that Harby had successful tours to NZ and SA during India's #1 period.

 

[cnerd123]

Harby's good spells in those tours came when he started tossing it up.

He just couldn't do that consistently, for whatever reason. He was bowling flat, he was bowling ineffectively, and occasionally would bowl well.

You could make a case for him being told to be flat and defensive due to the pitches. However, I think he just didn't have the rhythm or confidence to toss it up regularly. Ashwin came in and bowled slowly and spun it hard on those same dead tracks and reaped the rewards. Ojha bowled slowly and was effective.

Bowling quick isn't even the main issue. He just wasn't effective. Jadeja came in and bowled darts, but spun them harder and got turn and bounce.

My abiding memory of Harbhajan was just flat, wicket-to-wicket topspinners with the odd doosra thrown in here and then. He just wasn't effective. He's always been at his best when he bowled slower and tried attacking outside of off. For whatever reason he wasn't doing that. Given how Ashwin came in and did that so well, I doubt it was MSD's orders.

During this phase he was also pretty good in Limited Overs cricket and I thought he shouldn't have been dropped from the ODI/T20 sides, but Ashwin's emergence as a wicket-taker in both formats basically made his position in the side untenable. Jadeja and Ashwin made for a good ODI pair and so Harbhajan had to go.

 

[Shri]

The context in which he was picked was hardly ideal tbh, "Oh look, England can't play spin, lets throw Bhajji in there too for lolz", " oh Harby always does well against Aus, lets give him a go, Aussies suck anyways lol". Can't just pick and drop at random, Harbhajan has always been a confidence bowler anyways, not the guy who will bowl well if he feels he's gonna get the boot the next test.

My point is that the kind of pitches India has produced since 2011 WI series have been largely TYPICAL Indian wickets that aid spin, which is different from that lame 07-10 period where India produced at least 1 or 2 highway wickets everytime someone toured, giving overseas teams a false sense of security of being able to play spin on the SC, and then those same teams had a cry when they came across pitches that actually turned.

You can't honestly tell me that Harby wouldn't have taken a bagful against Windies (5 tests since 2011) and done reasonably well against Aus/NZ/England if given a proper go. I'm not trying to suggest that he's better than Ashwin/other spinners that have played in the last few years, but Harby's "decline" is as much to do with the kind of pitches he played on as the lack of flight and "dart" bowling that everyone uses criticize.

Lets also not forget that Harby had successful tours to NZ and SA during India's #1 period.

Lets see where you hide when he starts darting them down the leg side on a rank turner yet again. **** Bhajji.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Lets also not forget that Harby had successful tours to NZ and SA during India's #1 period.

Yeah, this isn't mentioned anywhere near as mucha s it should. Would've won us the SA series if Dhoni wasn't a complete idiot.

 

[weldone]

I think Ganguly being appointed as BCCI advisor may have something to do with the Harby return. It is actually a good move given he's probably still better than all spinners apart from Ashwin, but only if he can control his ego and get used to the role of 2nd spinner when required (and reserve spinner otherwise).

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Didnt Ganguly get the appointment after the announcement of squad?