Team India have started preparing for the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh that is scheduled to start from 18 June at Mirpur Stadium in Dhaka. MS Dhoni and a few other members of the ODI squad have already reached Dhaka on Monday.
Earlier, the one-off Test match between India and Bangladesh ended in a stalemate, but one would say India had the upper hand right throughout the rain-hit game. The Test match lost over 250 overs which was close to three days.
India had several positives to take away from the one-off Test match. Firstly, the opening pair, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay, who set a record first-wicket partnership. Secondly, the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh, who troubled the Bangladeshi batsmen throughout the first innings of the Test match.
Meanwhile, Dhoni along with Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ambati Rayudu have reached Dhaka on Monday.
"Team India decided to go out last night. We decided to celebrate because of the good performance. Some of the Test players are leaving and so it was also the last day with all the players together," Team Manager Biswaroop Dey said in an interview to the DailyStar.net.
Before flying off to Dhaka, MS Dhoni had the chance to better his batting stance with batting coach MP Singh. Dhoni would be looking to get back into the attacking mode as he used to be during the early days of his career. Now as he has transferred the Test captaincy to Virat Kohli, he can concentrate in the shorter format of the game and play his natural game.
"He had widened his stance and started to keep his bat between the feet. He has now decided to revert to his earlier stance in a bid to bring back the booming backlift. He demonstrated it to me and asked if it resembled his original stance," MP Singh said in an interview to The Times of India.
"He was hitting them hard and clean, like he used to do in his younger days. Don't be surprised if you see an attacking Dhoni in action in Bangladesh. I met him a few times in the last few years. Now he seems very relaxed and mentally strong.
"We discussed if he could come up the order. He said he will deliberate if somehow batting at No.4 can work out for him. He looks fit enough to carry on for some more time now," the coach concluded.
The ODIs scheduled on 18, 21 and 24 June have all been assigned a reserve day as the rains might play spoilsport during the ODI series just like it did during the one-off Test match.
