Indore, Nov 13:
The action begins with the red cherry but the focus is firmly on the pink ball as a formidable India looks to overpower a depleted-but-gritty Bangladesh in the first Test of a two-match series starting here tomorrow.
The rubber opens here but the buzz and the talk has been consistently centered on the second game in Kolkata, which will be played under lights–a historic first for both the teams.
This is also that one series in the World Test Championship calendar, in which Virat Kohli’s men, currently in the “pink of form”, can steamroll the rag-tag opposition well inside four days.
In fact, on paper, it is difficult to imagine how Bangladesh, without Tamim Iqbal and the suspended Shakib Al Hasan, will even be able to compete in a format, which has been their weakest till date.
Having crushed South Africa in their last series, this Indian team, with inarguably their greatest-ever pace unit till date, will definitely be too hot to handle for a side whose best batsman skipper Mominul Haque — has less than 10 Test hundreds (eight).
Although Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad are committed cricketers but in the longest format, they aren’t exactly formidable names.
Shakib was ousted from this series owing to a two-year suspension for failing to report corrupt approaches to the ICC.
The Indians, however, do not want to take anything for granted.
Squads:
India (12): Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant.
Bangladesh: Mominul Haque (captain), Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammed Mithun, Liton Kumar Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Mustafizur Rahaman, Naeem Hasan, Saif Hasan, Shadman Islam, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain, Al Amin Hossain.
Match Starts: 9.30 am. (PTI)
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