Hyderabad: One is the No.1 team. The other is languishing second from the bottom on the rankings table. On paper, the India-Bangladesh Test starting on Thursday is a mismatch but cricket, as they say, is an unpredictable game where many a Goliath has been slain by doughty Davids on the field.
It is this fact of life, and sport, that will drive the Bangladeshis on when they take on Virat Kohli’s men at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, which, they pray, would play to their advantage.
They would be boosted by the auspicious pooja performed on the pitch on Wednesday by the host association to ward off ‘demons’ in the wicket though.
The Bangladeshis too have offered prayers at the nearby mosque ahead of one of their practice sessions at the RGICS. Game for the gods? Hmm...
Back to the ground, the Indians take to the field on the back of an amazing run. The series sweep (Tests, One-Dayers and T20s) against England has provided them the momentum they would love to ride. The youngsters have done pretty well and captain Kohli has led from the front with aplomb and shown tremendous capacity to build the team for the future.
The Test provides a great opportunity for the home players to reiterate a skill statement. Ajinkya Rahane, back from an injury, would love to get back into the groove while Murali Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara look to bolster their batting.
India will no doubt play to their strength — spin, with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin leading the bowling charge and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja supporting him as Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav look after the pace department.
On the other hand, Bangladesh have not quite had the build-up they would have liked. After a rough ride in New Zealand (they lost both Tests), they were given a tough time by India ‘A’ in their two-day warm game a couple of days ago where three centuries by India’s second string batsmen knocked the stuffing out of them. Bangla batsmen too could not fire big enough though captain Mushfiqur Rahim and one-down bat Soumya Sarkar hit clean half-centuries to hold the batting fort. Then, they lost opener Imrul Kayes to an injury sustained in the tour game.
On the bowling front, seasoned spinner Shakib Al Hasan will have to shoulder the burden alongside Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan after Taskin Ahmed and Shafiul Islam make good use of the new ball.
Whatever the possibility, the visitors are happy to play their first Test in India, an experience that will go a long way in building the side for the future as the captain and coach admit.
The squads
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, K. L. Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Abhinav Mukund, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav.
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain, wicketkeeper), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Subashis Roy, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Mahmudullah Riyadh, Mominul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain, Sabbir Rahman.
