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Indian team miles ahead of Bangladesh
After India swept the two-Test series, Bangladesh squeezed a shock win in the ODIs before the visitors roared again to come through 2-1.
It was meant to be an easy outing for India, but after they swept the two-Test series, Bangladesh squeezed a shock win in the one-dayers before the Men in Blue roared again to come through 2-1.
The tour of Bangladesh also signalled the end of the Indian team's international engagements for the year, in which they did pretty well in Tests but were found wanting in the shorter version of the game.
India played 32 One-Day Internationals and won 15 and lost 16, while one match ended without result.
In Test cricket, India performed much better. The Sourav Ganguly/Rahul Dravid-led team played 12 matches, won six and lost three, while the other three ended in draws.
Left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan was the star of the Test series against Bangladesh. The 20-year-old picked up 18 wickets at 11.88 in two games to be named Man of the Series.
He claimed his first five-wicket haul and also his maiden 10-wicket haul in a Test to completely dominate the minnows with his hugely swinging deliveries.
Besides Pathan, Sachin Tendulkar (284 runs at 65.43), Gautam Gambhir (174 at 70.73), Dravid (160 at 80.00) and Ganguly (159 at 79.50) also shone in the thoroughly one-sided Test series.
For Bangladesh, except for Mohammed Ashraful, who scored the lone century for his country in the second Test at Chittagong, none of the other batsmen showed the temperament and technique to cope with the much superior Indian bowling attack.
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble also did well as the support bowler to Pathan, picking up 10 wickets at 14.40.
The one-dayers, however, brought some cheer to the Bangladeshi camp as the home side won the second match against a depleted Indian team at Dhaka. It was Bangladesh's first win over India.
India had rested Tendulkar, Dravid, VVS Laxman, Pathan, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh for this match as part of their rotation policy.
Following the shock defeat, India fielded their full strength side for the third and final match and crushed Bangladesh by 91 runs to wrest the series.
Bangladesh's failure has intensified the debate on whether it deserves to remain among the 10 Test-playing nations.
Some experts feel that Bangladeshi players are not mature enough to stand up to the rigours of Test cricket, and that there should be a second tier of Test-playing countries in which Bangladesh should be placed for it to gain experience along with a few other upcoming countries.
The critics cite cold records of Bangladesh in Test and one-day cricket since they gained Test status in 2000.
Bangladesh have lost 31 of the 34 Tests they have played and drawn the other three. In 101 one-dayers, the minnows have lost a whopping 93 and won six, while two ended without result.
The Indian players will now get some time to rest and play in the Ranji Trophy national championship until their next assignment - the home series against Pakistan in February-March.
