With the final encounter against a beleaguered Bangladesh beginning today, India would want their big guns Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to fire when the mighty hosts are going for a clean sweep against the visitors. The all around performance of Ravichandran Ashwin, Shubman Gill’s batting brilliance aided by a hundred, quality batting by Ravindra Jadeja, and roaring comeback of Rishabh Pant were enough for India to register a convincing win in Chennai despite slumping under pressure from the Bangladeshi pacers on the first day of play.
How India went from 30-8 to 420 all out, especially in the grit and character displayed by the boys, asked the questions again as to whether or not India still ruled the roost in Test cricket. In particular in the subcontinent, dominating the home series, the team is within one series of an unprecedented 18 consecutive wins.
With the white-ball return forgetting in style, it was the correct time for the resident impact maker everywhere else to do his thing where it is supposed to have maximum impact, the Test arena.
Apparently, it appears as though he has brought one extra dimension to his game and that is for the time being being restrained from unleashing his aggressiveness when the situation calls for it makes him a lot deadlier than he has ever been.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh pacers — Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed’s spells were effective as both Rohit and Virat’s bats remained idle in the opening match of the series, bowling nagging lines on an assisting surface.
Considering the looming long Test season, both top-order batsmen must be mad hungry to be among the runs.
In his first home test since March 2023, Kohli was not at his best and it can be trusted that he will not be going for outlandish cover drives early on in the innings.
