India looking to wrap up the seires (white wash)

[koksmayu]

After Thursday's scrappy yet morale-boosting win, India will be looking to plug the loopholes and pocket the three-match one day series against Bangladesh in the second ODI in Mirpur on Saturday. The five-wicket win may have helped the team in leaving behind the stunning loss to the neighbouring nation in the World Cup, but the stiff competition put up by the hosts at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Thursday is yet another confirmation that Rahul Dravid's team have a battle at hand during the remainder of the tour. Besides, the team management needs to take a long, hard look at what Dravid and stopgap cricket manager Ravi Shastri have themselves described as 'grey areas'. In Thursday's match, the top order floundered, fielding looked sloppy and the pace bowlers wayward. "There is work to be done in a couple of areas," Shastri said. Openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag needlessly went out to soft dismissals, as did Dinesh Mongia. Yuvraj Singh committed himself too early to an aggressive shot, while Dravid failed to build upon the start he got. "We need to bat a little well at the top. We should not have lost as many wickets as we did, but I am quite happy and I am sure as the games go on, the top order will fire", said Dravid, who has always found his bat refusing to do the talking against Bangladesh. Despite his overall career average nearing 40, Dravid's figures hover in the mid-20s against Bangladesh and he would be keen to improve upon that in the coming engagements. The below-par ground fielding is also causing concern to the team, and new fielding coach Robin Singh needs to work on that area.