The Bangladesh cricket team, after scripting a historic 2-0 win over Pakistan in the Test series, will now head to India to play another two-match Test series against their neighbours to the west, starting September 19.
Before Bangladesh’s visit to Pakistan, every cricket fan expected the India vs Bangladesh series to end with a 2-0 scoreline in favour of the former. However, the way the Bangla Tigers outmanoeuvred Pakistan in all departments to register their maiden series win against the latter means they will now be a formidable challenge for India.
Pacers on Par with Spinners
The Bangladesh bowling department has been heavily dependent on their spin attack. If we look at Bangladesh’s history, they rarely had more than one dependable pacer in their squad, which meant that all the heavy lifting to stop the run flow and take wickets often fell on the shoulders of their spinners.
The situation was the same in their first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, where Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan partnered to wreck the Pakistani batting line-up.
However, the story was very different in the second Test, which saw pacers taking 14 of the 20 wickets, including all 10 wickets of the second innings, to hand Pakistan their first Test series loss against Bangladesh. The pick of the match was Nahid Rana, who consistently bowled at 145 km/h during his spell, leaving the Pakistani batters clueless and ending up with six wickets.
Batters Showing Character
While the bowlers played their roles for Bangladesh with perfection, their batters were also ready to seize the moment and ensure that the team’s effort was not shouldered by just one department. In the first innings of the first Test, five batters crossed the 50-run mark, including Mushfiqur Rahim’s 191. A collective effort from the batters helped Bangladesh take an important 107-run lead, which was crucial in their eventual 10-wicket win.
The story, however, was very different in the second Test. In reply to Pakistan’s 274 in the first innings, the visitors were reeling at 26 for 6 at one point. If this had been the Bangladesh team of the past, crossing the 100-run mark would have been a miracle from this situation, but such was not the case for this new and improved side.
Litton Das, with his gritty 138-run innings, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, with a fighting half-century, stepped up to the adversity and went on to add 165 runs for the seventh wicket. This allowed Bangladesh to take a mere lead of 12 runs and showed that they were not ready to go down without a fight.
Bangladesh India Test series 2024: Rusty but full strength India
While Bangladesh will be coming in with red-hot form after their win against Pakistan, India might be a little rusty when they take the field for the first Test on September 19. India last played Test cricket six months ago in March against England. They have been playing limited-overs matches since then, which might result in the team needing some time to adjust to the longest format of cricket.
However, they will also have a huge boost as their star batter, Virat Kohli, who was unavailable for their series against England earlier this year, and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who was sidelined after a life-threatening road accident in 2022, will be available to assist Rohit Sharma and his men in keeping their undefeated streak against Bangladesh in Tests intact.
The availability of these two players will put the team management in a tough situation, as they might be forced to drop Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel from the playing XI, despite their brilliant performances in their last outing.
The Gautam Gambhir effect
Gautam Gambhir created quite a buzz when he took over the role of head coach of the Indian team from Rahul Dravid after the latter helped the men in blue win their first ICC trophy in a decade in the form of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Undefeated India
Just like Pakistan, India has also been undefeated against the Bangla Tigers in Test cricket. The two sides have faced each other in Test cricket 13 times, with India emerging victorious in 11 matches, while two matches ended in a draw. However, just as they ended their winless streak against Pakistan, Najmul Hasan Shanto and company will not leave any stone unturned in their quest to do the same with Rohit Sharma-led Team India.
First Published: Sep 05 2024 | 1:01 PM IST
