Bangladesh brace for rare big occasion

February 9-13, 2017, Hyderabad
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)

This is a match at least 15 years in the making. Ever since the FTP came into existence back in 2001, every Full Member has hosted Bangladesh for bilateral cricket but India. For 16 years the BCCI has laughed in the face of the FTP. Ironically, when Bangladesh have finally made it to their first bilateral international match in India, the faces of the BCCI that denied Bangladesh these matches are no more in the BCCI.

This apathy has been one of the reasons there is a bit of bitterness between the two sides. It manifests itself more in limited-overs cricket where Bangladesh compete on more even terms with India. There are external factors at play too, but there is enough needle on the field.

The big challenge for Bangladesh is to carry that limited-overs competitiveness into the ultimate test in cricket: playing well for five days in conditions unfamiliar to you. After beating England in a home Test, Bangladesh went to New Zealand and showed they had come a long way from being a side teams could declare on with only 200 in credit just to save the trouble of turning up for a fifth day. They showed they could put big runs on the board after their spinners had shown they could take 20 wickets against England. Yet they learnt that you can lose Tests despite playing well for long durations. That you can lose despite nearly scoring 600 and taking lead. That the good Test sides play good cricket for longer than the ones that lose.

It is only going to get tougher in India who are on top of their game. They have got two spinners in the forms of their lives, they have got seven batsmen with valid claim to just five or six slots, they have just dropped a wicketkeeper who was pivotal to their success in the last series because the regulation wicketkeeper is back. They know and love these conditions. They had already blanked New Zealand and England earlier in the season.

What Bangladesh have going for them is spinners more accustomed to bowling in these conditions than those of the teams that visited India earlier in the season. On that basis alone, some quarters consider them to be the best placed of the four teams travelling to India this season. If they are to give India a scare it will have to be through their bowlers. The batsmen will still have to keep them in the game for long durations.

It is a big occasion for Bangladesh, and it will need a big performance to test the big boys of Test cricket in their own conditions.

India WWWWD (last five completed Tests, most recent first)
Bangladesh LLWLD

Mushfiqur Rahim made his Test debut in 2005, Virat Kohli in 2011. Mushfiqur has played 51 Tests in 12 years, Kohli 53 in six. Kohli spent the first four years of his career apprenticing under some of the best Test cricketers ever. Mushfiqur is already the second-most experienced Bangladesh Test cricketer, which means he and his team-mates have mostly had to learn by themselves. This difference in experience will be a big factor in Test cricket.

Shakib Al Hasan is the best Bangladesh cricketer of all time. He now has Bangladesh's highest Test score to go with it, but as the result in that Wellington Test showed the team needs more from him if they are to be competitive in Test cricket.

Ajinkya Rahane has had an indifferent home season after having laid claim to being India's best all-conditions batsman. He recovered with a fighting century in Indore but again began shakily against England before getting injured and watching his replacement Karun Nair score a triple-century in Chennai. Rahane should play - he has too much credit to be dropped just because his replacement played one big innings - but will be slightly anxious to get back scoring runs.

If India play five bowlers, Nair could be left out despite the triple-century in his last Test. The choice will come down between him and Jayant Yadav depending on conditions. India should continue with the pace combination of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav unless they expect lateral movement, which makes Bhuvneshwar Kumar a factor.

"One game does not overshadow two years of hard work from another player," Kohli said of the choice between Rahane and Nair. "You have to understand that Jinx averages 50 in the last two years and is the most solid batsman in the Test format. We will look at it from that point of view. Karun was stepping into his shoes. What he did was remarkable, sealing his spot as far as the squad is concerned, but you can't overlook two years of hard work from Ajinkya. He desesrves to walk back into the team whenever he is fit."

India (probable) 1 M Vijay, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Karun Nair/ Jayant Yadav, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ravindra Jadeja, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav

Mushfiqur will come back and take his place as captain and wicketkeeper after missing the Christchurch Test because of a thumb injury. Soumya Sarkar will continue to open in the absence of Imrul Kayes. Bangladesh should play three spiners including Shakib with Taskin Ahmed and Kamrul Islam Rabbi taking the seam-bowling slots. In the unlikely scenario that they play three seamers, Bangladesh could go for Subhasis Roy instead of Taijul Islam.

Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mominul Haque 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim ( capt. & wk), 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mehedi Hasan, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Kamrul Islam Rabbi

The pitch is likely to be a typical Indian surface: slow and good for batting to start off with and to assist spin in the later stages of the match. There is nothing out of ordinary to how the pitch looks. There is no weather disturbance expected during the Test.

"Both aspects [spin and pace] we are doing well, that's why we are No. 1. Not just because of batting, bowlers have taken 20 wickets. I think bowlers' roles has been more important and we are going to have that mindset they are going to make you win games. You can't win matches if you don't get 20 wickets. We won't focus on the opposition. We know what talent they have but we won't think what they are going to do."
India captain Virat Kohli

"Shakib will be handy in these conditions and we also have Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan. They have to be at their best because we are playing against the No. 1 team in the world."
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim