India vs Bangladesh: Five key factors to watch out for

New Delhi: After more than two months break from international cricket, Team India is all set to start their small yet useful campaign against the host Bangladesh in just seven days. There are only three ODIs in the tour, but it is important for team to gain momentum before the long English tour later this month. With the key players like Rohit, Dhoni, Ashwin being rested it will not be an easy challenge for India to surpass their neighbors under the new skipper Raina. Bangladesh also named their squad with many big and established names.Check out the five main factors to watch out for in this Bangla tour:1) Young brigade performanceThere have been a lot of talks about the Indian team selection for the Bangladesh tour. With six major players like Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin, Dhawan and Jadeja being rested from the squad, a lot with depend on these young guns like Akshar Patel, Pujara and Kedar Jadhav. Losing to Bangladesh is not the most shameful thing in the world anymore. They have some worldclass players like Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. Still, India losing to Bangladesh would be an upset.After India announced their squad, Bangla skipper Mushfiqur Rehman was surprised. He said, “One should not forget that if they lose, India will lose, not India A.”(in pic: Akshar Patel)2) Challenge for Raina as a captainIn the absence of Dhoni, Suresh Raina has been called upon to captain the side in Bangladesh. But the challenge is that he will be heading lot of inexperienced players. Besides being the skipper, he will also be the important middle order batsman as he is the only player in the squad with maximum experience. He was not the part of Indian squad in their last ODI assignment of Asia Cup in Bangladesh and thus after lot of T20 cricket, he needs to get back in ODI form.3) Robin Uthappa's returnRobin is returning to ODI cricket after six years since he played his last ODI in 2008. He was the best batsman in IPL that led to KKR's victory and it too has fetched him a much awaited, much deserved comeback to the national side.His wicket shall be the most priced wicket for the bowling led by Shakib and company. 4) Selection of Indian playing XIWith 3 pacers and 4 spinners, it will be tough to decide and form the bowling unit in the playing XI. Indian squad lacks specialist bowlers and batsmen as Amit Mishra and Suresh Raina are the only specialist players in bowling and batting respectively. Another issue which could worry the side is that who will be the openers. With Uthappa, Pujara and Rahane are present in as the openers; it would be hard to select the openers.5) Motivated hostsBangladesh might not have performed well in Asia Cup and World T20 but the performance they gave in some matches had certainly motivated the Bangla side. If India loses to the hosts, it would not be a shameful thing for them, infact they have defeated India in the past. After knowing the Indian squad for the tour, Bangladesh skipper said, "I didn't expect them to take this series so lightly. We have a chance to give a reply on the field. There is extra motivation. They haven't invited us yet so if we do well in this series, it sends a message.”