It at least gives Cruz a better shot in Indiana and preserves resources that his Super PACs and anti-Trump outside groups would have had to spend trying to replicate the successful effort to tamp down the Kasich vote in Wisconsin.
The deal is also obviously a sign of how important Indiana is. This arrangement is being forced on Cruz and Kasich out of sheer necessity. If Trump wins the state, and especially if he wins handily, there are likely no plausible Cruz or Kasich scenarios left (not that there is a plausible Kasich scenario in any case).
It would help if Governor Mike Pence would step up and do what you would think his convictions and political history would naturally lead him to do — endorse Ted Cruz and campaign with him the way Scott Walker did in Wisconsin.