What’s the story?
Bangladesh’s Mominul Haque will be keen to get good practice when the touring Bangladesh team are up against India ‘A’ when the two lock horns in a practice game.
In an interview with The Times of India Haque said the two teams should play more often in the longer format: “Of course we missed playing India in India. It has been a long time for us to come here and play Test cricket. We should have more tours between the two countries. We always look forward to play India. If we get to play more Test cricket in India, we will be very happy.”
In case you didn’t know...
Bangladesh earned Test status in 2000 and became the 10th Test playing nation. The Tigers have played India eight times in the last 17 years and have never won a single Test match.
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They have lost seven and managed to draw one. When Bangladesh play India in the only Test, it will be the first time the Tigers will be playing a Test match on Indian soil.
The heart of the matter
Bangladesh have played Test matches in all the other Test-playing nations apart from India. Despite their infamous Test wins against England, West Indies, they know that India will be a tougher proposition. It is always difficult against an in-form side which is ranked number one. In their recently concluded New Zealand tour, Bangladesh never really turned up after the first innings in the first Test.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan heads into the India series after a double hundred and Mushfiqur Rahim is in good form. This Bangladesh side under Chandika Hathurusingha has seen a drastic improvement in all formats of the game. Hathurusingha took over as the coach in 2014 and since then, the Bangla Tigers have reached the highs of playing India is the Asia Cup final.
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They will even remember the match when they ridiculously faltered to score 2 runs off 3 balls in the quarter-finals of last year’s T20 World Cup. Bangladesh has failed to get the better of India in the other two formats but will be hoping to offer ample resistance in the longer format when they battle it out for the first time in India.
What’s next?
India was supposed to host Bangladesh in 2016 but it was postponed to early 2017. After the one-off Test against Bangladesh, India host Australia for four Test matches in February and March
Sportskeeda’s take
Bangladesh shocked India with a 2-1 win at home in the ODI series. However, a similar feat is very unlikely to happen in the Tests. India who emphasised their No. 1 Test rankings with a 4-0 win over England and will be eager to prove the same in the upcoming Test. On the other hand, The Tigers are known to be gritty, at times, so we can expect a good contest between the two.
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