India, March 28 -- Had this been late 2023, India's lucky point against Bangladesh could have been termed as one bad night at work, a match where the team had suffered a collective collapse in form. In 2023, India had gone on a run of three tournament wins at home, looked Iraq in the eye and almost made them blink, were denied by inept refereeing against Malaysia and ended the year with a rare away win in a World Cup qualifier.

Such a consistent upward curve in performance could have absorbed one poor result like the one in Shillong on Tuesday. But since 2023, things have slipped south and how. After beating Kuwait away, it took India 16 months to get a win and then, Bangladesh happened. The inclusion of Hamza Choudhury (more on him late...