A victory was the need of the hour for Indian cricket team to get away from the clutches of a hugely unpleasant recent past. While there is little doubt India had achieved that aim on their way to a five-wicket win over Bangladesh on Thursday, the result also left in its wake some points to ponder over.
First of the lot is top-order batsmen’s extravagant approach, which now seems a chronic problem than just a minor scare. None fit into the lead cast of Captain Spendthrift as Virender Sehwag, the Delhi opener looked in sublime touch and the four successive boundaries he hit off Syed Rasel indicated a big one from him.
But for reasons best known for Sehwag, he decided to send the ball over covers in the last ball of Rasel, only managing to scoop a simple catch. That sparked a mini-crisis from which India had to fight till the last to wriggle out.

Unimpressive
Indian bowlers, barring S Sreesanth – for the brief while he had bowled– and Munaf Patel, others were a let down even considering the nature of the track; it allowed Bangladesh batsmen to rack up a formidable total. Indian fielding, especially in the outfield, also left a lot to be desired.

Enough positives
This is not to present a pessimistic picture of a hard-earned win and there were enough positives as well to take heart from. The spunk displayed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Kaarthick should warm the Indian hearts. They came together in the middle when India were tottering at 144 for five and the visitors required to score more than six runs per over.
One mistake would have cost India the match as the duo was the last recognised pair, but to their credit Dhoni and Kaarthick controlled the innings with rare maturity. Dhoni's was a special effort considering the fact that he was battling cramps and he never tried anything fancy during the entire length of his innings. It was Dhoni's 13th one-day fifty, and did somebody say 13 is an inauspicious number!
Kaarthick's was the classical supporting innings, making room for his partner to take the centre stage by rotating the strike efficiently. The Tamil Nadu batsman's second one-day half-century – first came against the West Indies in Cuttack in January in a winning cause – was also a tangible proof of the development of him both as a player and an individual.
The challenge before the Indians is to improve upon this performance and clinch the series with a rock solid performance. They might contemplate giving a chance to Uttar Pradesh left-arm pacerman Rudra Pratap Singh for Saturday's match in the place of Zaheer Khan who looked out of sorts against the aggressive Tamim Iqbal.

Mortaza set to return
Moving to the Bangladesh camp, they have some good news before the crucial second one-dayer. Paceman Mashrafe Mortaza, who missed the first one-dayer due to lower back strain, is likely to figure in the playing eleven.
"He has suffered a lower back strain, but he is recovering very quickly. We will run a fitness test on Friday and on the morning of the match day. We are expecting him to be ready for the second one-dayer," Bangladesh physio Paul Close said in an e-mail release from Bangladesh Cricket Board.
If Mortaza returns he will replace Shahadat Hossain who failed to create any impression on Indian batsmen. However, the hosts too will have to sort out some issues – and quickly too – before taking on Indians for the second time in two days. Skipper Habibul Bashar will have to score some runs to boost his own confidence and assert his status as the leader of the side.
A cracker of a contest is very much on cards, if the elements relent.
Teams (from):                                      
India: Rahul Dravid (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni, Dinesh Mongia, S Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla, Manoj Tiwari.
Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (capt), Shahriar Nafees Ahmed, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Aftab Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mohammed Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Javed Omer, Shahadat Hossain Rajib, Farhad Reza.
Umpires: Asoka De Silva (Sri Lanka) and Enamul Haque; Third umpire: Nadir Shah; Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).