The bigger picture: Can Bangladesh achieve another first?
It’s time for India to dust off their white jerseys as the Test season is about to get longer. After not playing a Test match for over six months, they will now play ten Test matches in the next three and a half months, starting with a tour of Bangladesh for a two-match series.
On paper, India might feel optimistic about their chances of beating Bangladesh in the first of the two Tests, starting in Chennai on September 19. But it is the Bangladesh team that takes pride in getting the first spot.
Indian batsmen have shown weakness against quality spinners in recent times and in Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam, Bangladesh have three batsmen who can tear the batting order apart on their day.
Bangladesh come into this series in very good spirits and given India’s potentially weak performance, they will hope to beat them with ease.
Form Guide
India: WWWWL (last five Tests, most recent first)
Bangladesh: WWLLLL
In the spotlight: Rishabh Pant and Mehdi Hasan Miraz
Team News: Will India go in with three spinners?
India have started the trend of playing three spinners and two pacers in their home Test matches, but against Bangladesh too, they may be tempted to play three pacers – as they did in both Tests of the 2019-20 series – on a red-soil Chepauk pitch that promises bounce and carry. However, with the Chennai sun heating up the pitch, spin is expected to play a key role, so playing three spinners seems a more preferable option. In this case, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will lead the pace bowling unit, while R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav will be the three spinners.
In addition, KL Rahul is looking to make a comeback to the Test team for the first time since an injury forced him to leave the series against England midway earlier this year. He could replace Sarfaraz Khan in the middle order. Meanwhile, Pant is also likely to replace Dhruv Jurel in the wicketkeeper’s role, who played the last three Tests against England.
India (Probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 KL Rahul, 6 Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11Jasprit Bumrah.
Bangladesh are unlikely to make too many changes to their victorious playing XI from the second Test in Pakistan last month. They may also consider playing three spinners. Bangladesh fielded Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana as their three pacers in the second Test in Rawalpindi and the pace trio took 14 of the 20 wickets, including all ten in the second innings. But in Chennai, they may consider including Taijul along with Shakib and Mehidy.
Shakib arrived in Chennai late Tuesday night after playing a match for Surrey in the County Championship.
Bangladesh (Probable): 1 Shadman Islam, 2 Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Mominul Islam, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Liton Das (wk), 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Mehdi Hasan Miraz, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Hasan Mahmud, 11 Nahid Rana/Taijul Islam.
Pitch and conditions: Chennai heat expected to play a role
The Chennai pitch for the opening Test will be a red soil one and may have plenty of bounce and bounce for both pacers and spinners, but the surface is likely to break up due to the sweltering Chennai heat. This will mean spinners should come into play as the Test progresses. There is an extreme heat warning in Chennai at the moment, with temperatures likely to remain in the mid to high 30-degree Celsius range.
Stats and Trivia
- India are undefeated in 17 consecutive home Test series since November 2012.
- Jasprit Bumrah will be India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests in 2024: 27 runs in five games at an average of 15.07
- Yashasvi Jaiswal with 1028 runs in just nine Tests second on the list He is among the top run-scorers in the current World Test Championship cycle. With an average of 68.53, he is second only to Kamindu Mendis in the top ten names on this list.
- Pant averages 77.16 against spinners in Tests in India and strikes at 100.87,
- Mushfiqur Rahim Average 55.16 In test matches in India.
Citation
“Bangladesh has some great cricketers. Shakib has experience. Mushfiqur has experience. You have a very good bowling attack. There is Mehidy as well. So we know Bangladesh has talent. But the important thing is that we have to be ready from ball one. And that is the expectation from all of us in the dressing room.”
India head coach gautam gambhir Bangladesh is aware of the dangers it faces
“We played some very good cricket against Pakistan, (but) that is a thing of the past. That gives us a lot of confidence, but we have come here to play a new series and the dressing room believes we can play very good cricket. We are not thinking about the result, just want to follow the process.”
Bangladesh Captain Nazmul Hussain Shanto I don’t want to dwell too much on the past
Ashish Pant is deputy editor of ESPNcricinfo
