India has had the upper hand of the Test tussle against Bangladesh winning 11 matches out of the 13, with 2 matches drawn and 0 lost. Bangladeshi teams have always found Indian batting and bowling attacks too good to cope with.
Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, or Rahul Dravid have easily handled Bangladesh opposition on several occasions.
Although India has remained in complete control of the rivalry, it is undeniable that the last ten years has seen more edge in their clashes. Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, or Tamim Iqbal have been some of the crucial players for Bangladesh, and their involvement made these battles more competitive as well.
Bangladesh have won their Test series against Pakistan and they would be in a confident mood, on the other hand, a former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif thinks otherwise and believes that the visitors do not have what it takes to surprise the home team.
In an exclusive interview with timesofindia.com, former India cricketer Kaif said that it will be very difficult for the visitors to bowl the hosts out instead the other way round as they tend to dominate in their home games.
Bangladesh’s motivation to aspire trust about its existence in Pakistan after having won the Test series against them was explained by Kaif when he said, “India are very strong. Pakistan anyways are on a strong team. Bangladesh played very good against Pakistan no doubt about that still but even Bangladesh know that in order to shock the Indian team they will have to make every single effort.”
Kaif continued, “The last time India went to Bangladesh to play tour, India lost the ODI series and it was only Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel who performed tough enough to salvage a Test match, but there were a few players missing then, and there would none only India who would in their own turf with the SG ball, be hard to beat.”
The most recent Test series that India attended was early this year when they defeated England 4-1 in India in the month of February.
“Take for example the England cricket team. They came to India high with ‘Bazball’ and even won the first Test and were optimistic of winning the series in India. Even they could not achieve this mountain of a task. When a team like England loses the series this easily, it only proves that this Indian team is not all imbalanced,” Kaif expounded.
When it comes to Test matches in India, turning tracks also seem to be of immense attraction and this time both sides are well-armed with spinners.-
As for the grounds for the both Tests in Chennai and Kanpur,Kaif like this said, ‘Both the Test matches will be played on black soil pitches with low bounce, both in Chennai and Kanpur.
Pace spear head Jasprit Bumrah looks good in form but the order of combination would depend on the number of pace and spin bowlers in the team with more consideration on load management of the pace bowlers.
She said, “In the team combination, Kaif replied that ‘India will definitely play three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav and two pacers in Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Kuldeep Yadav might play in place of Axar Patel, I know it is a hard decision but Kuldeep more often than not gets wickets and has been in good form of late.”
It should be noted that if the Indian think tank lay out a spinning pitch, it may turn against them because even Bangladesh has fine spinners like Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam in the mix. Kaif said, ‘The last time when England came, then India coach Rahul Dravid made a point that we will have sporting pitches and not the ones that have been reduced to a day and a half test pitch even the fans would be happy with which has enough runs for the batsmen to score centuries and 5 wicket hauls for the bowlers. When Ravi Shastri was the head coach, and Virat Kohli captain and South Africa was touring Mohali for a Test, Tests were wraps within two to three days. But when it became about the time Dravid mended the abundant tracking it in arms of rohit where they have liked the beginning of good batting tracks with some reverse for the spinners like proper test pitch.
India played on good batting tracks against England and that’s good for the game and the fans for good cricket is maintained. Even Ajaz Patel took 10 wickets against India on a turning track. So Dravid and Rohit are now aware that we have a good team so we will not go to either unprepared or turning pitch, so that the other teams batting gets – falls off.’All in all everything is good.
This is the first Test assignment for Gautam Gambhir, Team India head coach where Dravid was in the position.
Kaif continued,“Rohit Sharma will be heeded to by Gautam Gambhir to the fullest of his capabilities since Gambhir is going to play his first Test series. So we have got some good quality bowlers and some good quality batsmen. The Indian cricket will be tough and it won’t be a cake walk to beat India in India.”
Kaif, while expressing his views about the negativity amongst team members on India losing to Sri Lanka in the recent ODI series, said “In white ball cricket they say you don’t get the time to recover the team and you can even lose matches to weaker teams owing to rush time frames which are not the case in Test matches. Test cricketer gets two innings so surprises are not common in a test match, but when it is one day cricket upsets are common. There are a lot of wise heads in this Indian Test side so that is why even if upset happens quite often in white ball cricket, not this Test side. Dhruv Jurel will be a player who will have to be on the bench. So, that’s why this Indian team is better, even than the English side. So Rishabh Pant returns, Rohit and Virat Kohli are there. This is the best Indian team and this is what Gambhir would expect the continuity to induce the momentum and pressure that is at this level today, to do it more like Australia, later on. This will be the crux of the team in Australia as well. Mohammed Shami however, might come in Australia instead of a spinner and that is probably where the changes will stop.”
The Australian season commences with the Bangladesh series and players have to ensure that by the time they reach Down Under they are confident of batting in the middle.”
The first Test against Bangladesh gets underway in Chennai on Thursday followed by second Test scheduled to take place in Kanpur from September 27.
