2nd ODI: Under-pressure India aim to draw level against Bangladesh

Mirpur With threat of a shocking series defeat looming large underpressure India under their beleaguered captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be aiming to come out all guns blazing as they meet an upbeat Bangladesh in the second cricket onedayer on SundayAfter being comprehensively thrashed by 79 runs in the opening match of the threematch series India for the first time are staring at the ignominy of series defeat against the proverbial minnows of world cricket in the backdrop of some unwanted controversy that resulted in skipper Dhoni being docked 75 percent of his match feesPicPTIThe road to redemption for Indian cricketers might just be a bit more tougher than what is expected as multiple factors stand in their way of clawing back to keep the series alive by restoring parity The first and foremost is Bangladeshs performance of late If anyone thought that making it to the last eight of the ICC Cricket World Cup was a fluke they were proved completely wrong by Mashrafe Mortaza and his bunch of talented youngsters as they whipped Pakistan 30 at homeThe Tigers once again roared as they crushed a full strength India side fair and square in what was a lopsided contest for the better part of the match The second factor which is also equally significant is skipper Dhoni his form has not been great for quite some time and now the tag of Captain Cool has taken a dent in the recent timesDhoni can consider himself very lucky that his Level2 offence off shoving opposition debutant Mustafizur Rahaman did not result in a twomatch suspension which would have effectively ended the series for him More than parting with 75 percent of his match fees Dhoni would just like to look back as to what exactly is going wrong with his batting An innings of 85 in a win against a belowpar Zimbabwe attack in the World Cup and a 65 while delaying the inevitable against Australia in the semifinals have been his better contributions of lateStatistics showed that Dhonis strikerate against leftarm spinners has dropped down to around 66 in the four years post 2011 World Cup victory More importantly when a leftarm spinner is in operation it takes him 32 balls to hit a boundary No wonder he struggled against Shakib Al Hasan Not only his own struggle Dhoni as a captain needs to ensure that his entire bunch pulls up their socks and perform like a team possessed to weed out any chances of an upsetPicPTIThere is a possibility that weather could play spoilsport again and Team India would be praying for a full match in order to get proceedings on level terms Shikhar Dhawan had a poor outing in the opener but his form of late has been good and the lefthander would like to continue from where he left in the Test match at Fatulla with a big hundredRohit Sharma is a man of big hundreds and double hundreds when it comes to ODI cricket and he would not like to throw it away like he did in the first match when he looked set for another three figure mark Test captain Virat Kohlis ODI figures are phenomenal but the lean patch in limited overs is his first in the last five years and it might just require one innings to get it back ontrack Ajinkya Rahane on his day can be as dangerous as a Dhoni or a Kohli and would be licking his wounds after his failure in the first matchHowever for Dhoni the most important aspect would be to ensure that his bowling unit performs their job better than what they did last time Especially the pacers who were taken to the cleaners by the Bangladeshi toporder Umesh Yadavs inconsistency is baffling since he has been a regular feature for more than a season now His inconsistency in hitting the right channel cost India dearly in the first matchMohit Sharma has been Dhonis trusted third pacer for sometime now but he didnt look the part during the match being blasted for more than 50 runs in less than five overs Bhuvneshwar Kumars sharp drop in pace from early 130 kmph to mid120kmph is also a factor that has added to Dhonis woes Which leaves Indian team with their main strike bowler in Ravichandran Ashwin It was because of Ashwin and partially Suresh Raina that India were able to restrict Bangladesh to 307 instead of a score close to 350 which looked quite possible at one stageAs an ODI side Bangladesh has improved a lot in recent times with a nice blend of experience and youth While the quartet of Shakib Al Hasan Mushfiqur Rahim Tamim Iqbal and captain Mashrafe Mortaza form the core they have unveiled some serious talents in opener Soumya Sarkar and leftarm paceman Mustafizur Rahman Mustafizur has impressed everyone with his variations and change of pace which troubled every Indian batsmen