With Test championship at stake, India can't take Bangladesh series lightly

It’s been five months since India last played a Test match against England in Birmingham at the start of July. So much has transpired subsequently that game has almost been forgotten. It’s a Test India lost by seven wickets, unable with a full-strength bowling attack to prevent Ben Stokes’ men from hauling down 378 in the fourth innings with ridiculous ease.

Up against them now, in a two-match series starting on Wednesday (December 14), are Bangladesh, not the most formidable Test side on paper but one of the most difficult outfits to conquer on their own patch. India haven’t lost a Test on Bangladeshi soil yet – they have won six and drawn two since that country’s inaugural game in November 2000 – but that record will come under some threat, especially because the visitors are missing several key personnel, especially in the bowling department.

Lack of experience

Skipper Rohit Sharma (at least for the first Test) and the experienced bowling trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja are all unavailable, nursing injuries of different kinds. That lends a touch of the greenhorn to the pace bowling department in particular, with only Umesh Yadav – himself a sporadic participant – boasting more than 15 Test appearances. Umesh, who made his Test debut as far back in 2011, has 158 wickets from 52 Tests, and will have to spearhead an attack that will include at least one of Mohammed Siraj (13 Test caps) or Shardul Thakur (8 Tests), though if things go according to plan, it will be the spinners that will be more under the spotlight.

Also read: Unadkat picked for Bangladesh Tests in place of injured Shami

Even in Jadeja’s absence, India are well covered on that front. The obvious go-to man for stand-in captain KL Rahul will be R Ashwin, the off-spinner supreme who boasts an enviable 442 Test victims, though in his brief international career so far, left-arm spinner Axar Patel has ensured that India haven’t felt the Jadeja blow too much, snaffling 39 wickets from just six outings.

Just how much pressure these two tweakers exert on a Bangladesh batting line-up that will be without veteran opener Tamim Iqbal will decide how much dominance India are able to grab in a series of vital significance in their bid to make the final of the World Test Championship for the second cycle running.

India are currently fourth in the WTC standings, behind Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka, with two series and six Tests still to play. After this two-match showdown, they will lock horns with Australia over four Tests in Nagpur, Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad. In order to make it to the title round on their own steam, India must win at least five of these six games, a tall order but not impossible given that they will be playing in conditions that will assist their brand of cricket, particularly in view of the injuries being carried by the crack pacemen.

Tough times

For now though, the two Rahuls – the acting skipper and head coach Dravid – will have their sights trained only on the first Bangladesh Test. India are coming off a humbling 1-2 loss in the One-Day Internationals, a series they ought to have won 3-0 had they grabbed their chances. That, coupled with their inability to make the final of the T20 Asia Cup in August-September or the T20 World Cup in October-November, means Indian cricket is at its lowest ebb in the last several years.

In order to restore respect, as much as self-confidence, India need two solid performances in Bangladesh. For all the talk about the immense depth in Indian cricket and the presence of multiple options for each position, recent results have been discouraging and dispiriting. While it would be premature to say that India’s stock is on the decline, the demand for results and greater accountability is gradually growing. The first immediate reaction to the lack of success was the wholesale sacking of the national selection panel last month. The rolling of heads might not be the most immediate solution, or even necessity, but with qualification to the WTC final on the line as much as pride, India need to start stacking up numbers in the ‘W’ column.

In Rohit’s injury lies another opportunity for the exciting Shubman Gill to press his claims all over again. Gill has come on as a batsman in the last year or so and earlier this year, he made his first international century in an ODI in Zimbabwe. He has showcased his red-ball credentials, not least in Australia early last year when he played pace and bounce with consummate ease. However, he has often been his worst enemy, frittering away starts and not doing enough to push the established opening pair of Rohit and Rahul. Thrown a lifeline because of his captain’s absence, it’s up to the young man from Punjab to seize the day and set himself up as one for the long haul.

Also read: Ishan Kishan’s record double ton gives India 227-run win over Bangladesh

Pant’s test

This will also be a crucial series for Rishabh Pant. The wicketkeeper-batsman has struggled for chances in T20 cricket and was withdrawn from the ODI series loss to Bangladesh on medical advice. He has had issues with his fitness, relating largely to weight gain, but as he has proved time after time, he is a completely different beast in Test cricket where he has unleashed some of the most impactful knocks by an Indian batsman. His glovework against the spinners, impeccable during England’s tour of India last year on tricky surfaces, will be again under scrutiny, because he will be required to stand up to the stumps more than he will be keeping to the faster bowlers. But as much as that, how he acquits himself in front of the sticks in the likely possibility that India will go in with five specialist bowlers will be of equal importance.

Bangladesh will have been buoyed by the ODI scoreline and will feel the need to step out of big brother’s shadow. They have found ways to raise their game against India in the past without delivering the knockout punch but now that they have done so twice in the last ten days, Shakib Al Hasan’s boys will be eyeing another major coup. It’s up to Rahul and his band to ensure those designs are emphatically foiled.