By Vinod Raheja The Bangladesh ODI series loss would have not surprised the serious cricket follower. The team selection for that ODI series defied logic. The curious case of Ravindra Jadeja in the Playing XI warrants serious explanation. There seems to be no cricketing merit in his selection. His batting has not flowered & his bowling to put it mildly has been pedestrian. ODI squad for Bangladesh Tour : MS Dhoni (C), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravichandran Ashwin , Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Dhawal Kulkarni. ODI squad for Zimbabwe Tour: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), M Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma. This is the same jaded & tried squad from WC & IPL. This tour gave the BCCI a wonderful opportunity to test the IPL players who had a decent outing : Pandya, Hooda, Samson, Shreyas Iyer who incidentally was awarded the emerging player. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav could have been unleashed on this tour ahead of Axar Patel or Jadeja. The selection of two slow left arm similar bowlers in Patel & Jadeja for the Bangladesh tour was beyond logic. Kuldeep Yadav should have been the logical choice. Pandya does bowl at a brisk pace & has the batting firepower to change the course of a match. The Bangladesh tour or the forthcoming tour to Zimbabwe could have been the ideal launching pad for these players to prove their mettle in the longer format of the game. The most glaring omission in the Bangladesh tour was Robin Uthappa. Robin was striking beautifully for the KKR franchisee and was consistent. Robin's selection for the Zimbabwe team is a good selection along with Murali Vijay. Youngsters who had performed well for their franchisee in the IPL have yet again been ignored, which is disappointing. The slow & steady decline in the ODI performance should and can be attributed to absence of any serious local ODI tournament, which could have been a yardstick for team selection. The Challenger trophy needs to be revived and revived soon. The glaring inadequacies of building and pacing an innings in a 50 over match is one of the reasons in the reverses of this current Indian cricket Team. ODI Cricket is still a game where the good balls have to be respected at certain stages of an innings.The bowling department needs a serious overhaul. Shami was over bowled in the last 12 – 15 months and at some stage he had to break down and he did. Shami was one bowler who was capable of giving the team vital breakthroughs. His injury has left a gaping hole in the bowling armoury. Young emerging players need to be given a chance and encouraged. Persisting with the same set of players who have failed in the past shows the lack of a solid bench strength. Dhoni needs to strongly look inwards and contemplate his future. One can quote statistics in favour of the Indian ODI Captain to justify his place. The fact remains that Dhoni is no more the impact player he was 18 months earlier. This has seriously made a difference in the last 10 – 12 overs of the innings. The firepower is missing and Dhoni's inability to change gears is hurting the team. BCCI was termed a bunch of jokers by Lala Amarnath. It seems the BCCI want to prove the great man right at all times. Rahane was dropped from Playing XI and leads the team literally in the very next match ! S. Venkatraghavan was Captaining India in one test and was dropped in the next ! Strange are the ways of BCCI. IPL has made the BCCI rich, but has it made Cricket in India Rich ?? (Image source: BCCI Twitter account)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this articles are the personal opinions of the author. The News Minute is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability or validity of any information in this article. The information, facts or opinions appearing in this article do not reflect the views of The News Minute and The News Minute does not assume any liability for the same