Team India has lost the One Day International series against Bangladesh after yet another close defeat today in the second ODI at Mirpur. This is India’s second consecutive ODI series defeat at Bangladesh after they previously lost there in 2015. Rohit Sharma’s men had almost their strongest squad for this tour while Bangladesh had their captain Tamim Iqbal missed from this series.

In the first ODI, India batted first only to make 186, which was a below average batting display and they failed to defend it. That continued in the second game too. Apart from a classy knock of 82 from Shreyas Iyer and half centuries from Axar Patel and an injured Rohit Sharma, no one could stand in front of quality Bangladesh bowling attack.

Here we will look at 5 big mistakes that Team India did in this series –

1. Selection of the playing XI by Team India

There were casual efforts from the team management of India to choose the first XI against Bangladesh. Players like Sanju Samson was not even picked in the squad of this tour. Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant were on the bench despite having some good form in this format in the previous games. However, neither played until the final match, which had no meaning. Kishan smashed a 210 off 131 balls in that match.

Further, Shahbaz Ahmed got the nod for the first game. However, he was dropped post the first match despite performing well. It was so confusing why some of the players were picked, while others were dropped.

2. Picking Shardul Thakur over Umran Malik

Bangladesh batters are not comfortable against “raw pace” that we saw in the second game when Umran Malik had his tail up with the ball. Things could have been different if India had Umran instead of Thakur in the first match defending 186. Thakur was just not the all-rounder Team India needed in that game. Malik also proved his worth in the 3rd game, though this series could have actually been the making of a special pacer, had he been utilized properly.

To add to that, relying on Shardul Thakur as a genuine all-rounder is totally impossible these days. After helping India lose the 2nd ODI, where he wasted ball after ball, Thakur failed to impress with the bat in the 3rd ODI too. Though he got some much needed wickets and his economy was great while bowling in this game, it was too little too late.  Deepak Chahar also got injured and he clearly seems to be the better choice out of the 2 at present.

3. Patience lacked while building partnerships, a side-effect of the T20 format?

Playing so much T20 cricket in recent years, Indian batter’s preparation to build partnerships did not look well as they lost wickets in regular intervals. This has been a problem with all teams across world cricket. With the 50-over World Cup now coming up, things could get really interesting. All coaches and team managements will have to plan as to how overcome this issue.

4. Not giving enough overs to Deepak Chahar

Defending 186, India started brilliantly with Chahar picked up wicket in the first ball. We all know Chahar’s capability with the new ball rather than old. He bowled 6 overs with the new ball and never came again until the end phase of the game. It was quite surprising to see Rohit Sharma kept Chahar for the death overs when he got smashed all over the park.

5. Fielding mistakes by Team India

Despite scoring a brilliant knock with the bat, KL Rahul and Washington Sundar’s casual efforts in the dying phase of the game, cost India big. Further, the overall display by the team while defending small targets was just lacklustre. The series could have turned on its head by a special effort on the field. However, it never came. A captain is supposed to inspire his troops, though one can seriously not expect Rohit Sharma to do so in this department.