Anil Kumble not willing to take Bangladesh lightly ahead of the one-off Test

Indian head coach Anil Kumble has said that Bangladesh will pose the hosts with a good challenge and added that the Mushfiqur Rahim-led side were an improved side.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the 46-year-old said that the visitors had some quality players and expected an interesting contest when the two teams step on the field in Hyderabad on Thursday.

“We would like to take every team the same way, in terms of what they bring to the table. Its a very improved side, they have had a good outing in New Zealand, although the results are different. But Bangladesh going there and doing what they did, we certainly respect the opposition,” Kumble said.

India are coming off a limited-overs series win against England and last played a test in Chennai in mid-December and the former leg-spinner hoped to carry the momentum they had gained in the Test series against England.

“I think we would like to just look at it as a continuation from we have left off against England. It’s been a good home season so far and we would like take confidence from that and build on it. We still have a few Test matches after this as well and it’s important we take the momentum from where we left off and look at Bangladesh and we would like to look at what we can do and continue to measure what we can achieve, “ he added.

The one-off Test against Bangladesh will be India’s first-ever against the team on their home soil and it would mean that the former would have now played against every international side in their backyard.

Ahead of the game, the visitors took on India A in a two-day warm-up game and did not fare well either with bat or ball, amassing a mere 224 for 8 declared with the bat and then got smashed with the ball as well, going for 461 runs.

If they are to put up a competitive performance against Indian in the one-off Test, then it goes without saying that they will need to buckle up and improve both in their batting as well as in the bowling.