India vs Bangladesh Solitary Test, Preview: Visitors Will Look To End the Winning Draught

India vs Bangladesh, the one-off test between the two neighboring nations has been marked as the most anticipated test in the last 6 months. With India playing against England in all three formats on home turf, this will be the first time a subcontinent team will lock horns with the Virat Kohli led side after a long time span.

The India vs Bangladesh Solitary Test is scheduled at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from 9th February to 13 February, 2017 and despite being given the status of test playing nation in 2000, this will be the first time that Bangladesh will play in the longest format on Indian soil.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has hosted only three Test matches and undoubtedly, the venue is a cricketer’s heaven. The highest score at this venue is India’s 503 against Australia, followed by the 472 runs stand that India made against New Zealand. Interestingly, the highest total registered by a visiting team came in the same Test as New Zealand declared their innings at 448/8.

Registering such targets requires personal bests from players and batsmen like Brendon McCullum (225), Murali Vijay (167), Cheteshwar Pujara (204 & 159), Harbhajan Singh (111*) and Tim Mcintosh (102) have registered some huge sky touching scores.

What makes The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium a complete package is the fact that in the three Tests played at the venue, a total of four 5-wickets hauls have been registered. R Ashwin has three of them under his belt, making Hyderabad his own backyard.

Moreover, when it comes to head-to-head stats, Bangladesh has never won a single Test game against India, out of the eight played, irrespective of the venue. India holds an unparalleled record of 6-0 against the subcontinent players and Virat Kohli will now be looking for self-complacency.

Fowling the recent dominating demolishing of England in all three formats, Virat Kohli’s side will be the favourites and a win against Bangladesh will further cement his team’s position as World No.1.

Bangladesh on the other hand, defeated England in a drawn series last October despite their 2-0 defeat against New Zealand, Bangladesh has everything in their arsenal to dismantle India’s ‘Chariot Of Victory’, especially their heavy spin-bowling attack. Moreover, the last time these two team locked horns, Bangladesh was able to take the match towards a draw and all that matters now is, what new will the visitors bring to India for this historic match.

If and only if, Bangladesh is able to register a victory over the hosts, ending the 18-match winning streak, the dream of this new era team to break the record of 20 consecutive home-Test wins, will be shattered to pieces.

Murali Vijay-KL Rahul, the yet to be tested opening pair, will be looking forward to end India’s dilemma of searching for a new pair for opening the batting line up as, this is the only department where indian side needs some major overhaul.

R.Ashwin too will need to play collective cricket as the dry and crack-ridden pitch will offer everything to anything for him and same goes for Bangladeshi spinners.

However, India will later host the Aussies for a 4-match Test Series and they shouldn’t drift their focus from the India vs Bangladesh game and moreover, shouldn’t take the World No.9th team lightly.

Squads

India: Virat Kohli(captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.

Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim(capt), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mosaddek Hossain, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subhashis Roy, Kamrul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Liton Das, Shafiul Islam.

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