India finally breathed a sigh of relief when they won the final One-day International against Bangladesh, but the hosts must be delighted as after whitewashing Pakistan (3-0), they have beaten India (2-1) for the first time in a series.
Bangladesh will face South Africa next month. The Bengal Tigers proved that they are no more to be taken lightly. Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Taskin Ahmed are Bangladesh’s future.
After losing the first two ODIs, the Indian team, especially skipper M S Dhoni, faced a lot of criticism. The ‘Mr Cool’ lost his temperament and offered to give up the captaincy if that guaranteed a change of fortunes for India. He reminded people that it was a job or responsibility that was given to him. "If they want to take it away, I am happy to give it away; ultimately you want India to win. It doesn’t matter who is the captain," he said.
Dhoni took over as skipper in 2007 after India had crashed out of the 2007 World Cup in the first round. In the subsequent years, Dhoni took the team India to new heights.
Dhoni is the most successful Indian captain as under his leadership India won the first World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007; a triangular series in Australia for the first time in 2007-08; the Compaq Cup in 2009; the Asia Cup in Dambulla in 2010; the 50-overs World Cup in India in 2011; and Champions Trophy in England in 2013.
No other captain has won all three ICC titles: the 50-overs World Cup, the Twenty20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy. Ricky Ponting captained the Australian team to wins in ICC World Cup and Champions Trophy but he was unable to win the World T20 Cup.
India also remained the No 1 team in Test cricket between December 2009 and August 2011 under Dhoni’s captaincy.
Dhoni has showed maturity and self-confidence in high-pressure situation many a time. The World Twenty20 semi-final against Australia and the final against Pakistan are just two examples.
After the third Test at Melbourne earlier this year, Dhoni suddenly announced his retirement from Test cricket -- he didn’t even wait for the end of the series.
He said he wanted to concentrate on shorter versions of the game and would continue to lead in One-day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
Beating Australia on their soil has always been a difficult task for any team. But Dhoni’s charges surprised everyone by winning the first two matches of the best-of-three final against Australia in 2007-08.
Dhoni was under a lot of pressure when India were routed 4-0 in England in 2011 and whitewashed in a four-match series in 2011-12 by Australia.
Criticism became harsher when India were beaten 2-1 by England last year, their first series loss to the Englishmen on home soil since 1984-85.
Defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan in the home ODI series created more problems for the skipper and some people started weighing the option of making young Virat Kohli the leader.
Losing the ODI series in Bangladesh may be the last nail in Dhoni’s captaincy coffin.
For the moment, Dhoni’s position is secure though the situation will be "reconsidered" after the World T20 in India in March next year.