Expecting big innings from captain Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli, India will take the field with the intention of maintaining its dominance over Bangladesh and clean sweep the two-match series in the second and final Test cricket match starting here from Friday. .
India won the first Test match played in Chennai with the help of Ravichandran Ashwin’s all-round game, Shubman Gill’s century, Ravindra Jadeja’s good batting and Rishabh Pant’s brilliant performance on his return. Bangladesh’s fast bowlers had put pressure on India on the first day but the way the Rohit Sharma-led team made a comeback shows its dominance in Test cricket, especially on home grounds.
India are now eyeing their 18th consecutive series win at home. After his successful comeback in limited overs cricket, Pant showed his talent in Test cricket also. Watching him play, it seems that he has added new dimensions to his game because he controlled his aggressive attitude when necessary. But the bats of Rohit and Virat remained silent in the first test match. In this match, Bangladesh’s fast bowlers Hasan Mahmood and Taskin Ahmed bowled well on a favorable pitch.
India has a very busy schedule ahead in Test cricket and Rohit and Kohli will be desperate to play big innings here. The spinners have been getting help from the Green Park wicket. Even though the fast bowlers are expected to get some help in this, its nature is likely to change as the game progresses. In such a situation, India can include three spinners in the playing eleven instead of three fast bowlers.
In such a situation, Akashdeep’s place can be given to Kuldeep Yadav whose home ground is this. If India wants to strengthen its batting then Axar Patel may get priority over Kuldeep. In the last Test match played at Green Park earlier in 2021, India had entered with three spinners Ashwin, Jadeja and Akshar. This match played against New Zealand was a draw.
As far as Bangladesh is concerned, its batsmen could not perform well in the first test match, considering which it can make changes in its team. Its batsmen were unable to cope with India’s fast bowling attack in the first innings, while they had no answer to Ashwin’s spin in the second innings. The team management has given contradictory statements on the availability of Shakib Al Hasan.
While a Bangladesh selector had said his selection was in doubt due to a finger injury he sustained while batting in Chennai, head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said the star all-rounder is available to play. Bangladesh can include left-arm spinner Taijul Islam in the final eleven in place of fast bowler Nahid Rana. He has another option in the form of off-spinner Nayeem Hasan.
Indian all-rounder Jadeja can become the player to score a unique double of 300 wickets and 3000 runs in this match. So far he has taken 299 wickets and 3122 runs in 73 test matches. England’s Ian Botham had achieved this feat in 72 Test matches and Jadeja has a chance to reach this milestone in the least number of matches after him. There has been a lot of humidity here for the last few days and the players will have to overcome this challenge also.
Not only this, there is also a possibility of rain on the first and third day of the match.India has not lost a Test match to Bangladesh yet and the visiting team will have to make special efforts to get its first win.
The teams are as follows:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
Bangladesh: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haq, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Kumar Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Naheed Rana, Hasan Mahmood, Taskin Ahmed, Syed Khalid Ahmed, Jakar Ali Anik.