PREVIEW: India vs Bangladesh Test

Sport360 staff 13:08 08/02/2017
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  • Can the Indian team continue their fine form?

    It has been more than 16 years since Bangladesh got Test status, but this will be the first time they play a Test in India.

    The hosts go into the game as huge favourites, being the number one ranked team in the ICC Test Rankings. They are also currently on a 18-match unbeaten streak that extends back to 2015.

    On the other hand, Bangladesh seem to have come of age in Test cricket. A couple of embarrassing batting collapses saw them lose the Test series against New Zealand 2-0, but a win over England at home in October last year was an encouraging sign of their continued development.

    DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO

    Date: 9 February – 13 February 2017

    Time: 09:30 local time (IST), 04:00 GMT, 08:00 GST

    Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad


    WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO

    TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Star Sports 1, HD 1 [English], Star Sports 3, HD 3 [Hindi]

    Online streaming: hotstar.com, Hotstar app [in India only]

    LIVE blog: Sport360 blog


    TEAM NEWS, SQUAD, PREDICTED XI

    INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Abhinav Mukund, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav.

    India have looked more or less invincible in Test cricket at home over the past 16 months and captain Virat Kohli will be confident that they can continue their excellent run.

    Kohli confirmed Ajinkya Rahane will come back into the team after missing a couple of Tests against England due to injury.

    The big question now is whether the Indian team will stick with the strategy of playing with five bowlers or feel four specialists with the ball are enough.

    If it’s the former, then Karun Nair – who slammed a triple century in India’s previous Test – may have to sit out to make way for Jayant Yadav. If it’s the latter, Nair will play and Jayant will have to warm the bench.

    PREDICTED INDIA XI: Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Kohli (c), Rahane, Nair, Ashwin, Saha (wk), Jadeja, Ishant, Umesh.

    BANGLADESH SQUAD: Mushfiqur Rahim (c, wk), Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Mosaddek Hossain, Liton Das, Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam.

    Bangladesh come into this game as massive underdogs, but out of all the teams that have toured India this season, they might have the best spinners.

    Mushfiqur Rahim’s side are likely to field three spinners with Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan likely to be joined by Taijul Islam.

    The visitors were dealt a big blow when ace quick Mustafizur Rahman was ruled out of the series which was followed by the news that opener Imrul Kayes will also miss the sole Test.

    PREDICTED BANGLADESH XI: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mominul, Mahmudullah, Shakib, Rahim (c, wk), Sabbir, Mehedi, Taijul, Taskin, Rabbi.


    FORM

    (Last five matches – with latest match first)

    INDIA: W W W W D

    BANGLADESH: L L W L D


    MATCH PREDICTION

    India to win.

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