New Delhi. A Test match will be played between India and Bangladesh from Thursday. India would like to maintain its dominance on home soil by winning this two-Test series. Winning the series will also almost confirm Team India’s claim to play the final of the World Test Championship (WTC). However, Indian batsmen will have to improve their performance against spin. India has to play 10 Test matches in the next 4 months.
Bangladesh team has come to India after defeating Pakistan 2-0 at their home ground. This has given them the confidence to perform well against India. In the last decade, India’s win-loss record on home soil has been unmatched 40-4. But in the last three years some weaknesses have been exposed, especially in the case of Virat Kohli. Bangladesh spinners Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam and Mehdi Hasan Miraz will try to take advantage of this weakness of Indian batsmen including King Kohli.
Kohli struggles against spinners
Kohli has played an important role in Team India’s excellent performance on Indian soil since 2015. He has scored runs against all the bowlers. But since 2021, his performance against spin has declined. During this period, his average in 15 Tests has been 30. Kohli would like to improve his performance.
Rohit’s performance also declined
On the other hand, captain Rohit Sharma is consistently performing well against the spin attack. Since being given the responsibility of opener against South Africa in 2017, he has scored runs at an average of more than 90 against spinners. However, since 2021, his performance against spinners has also declined and he has been able to score runs at an average of 44 in 15 matches.
Rohit Sharma praised KL Rahul’s performance against spinners. But the statistics tell something else. Rahul played five Tests in India in the last three years and scored runs against spinners at an average of 23.40. Overall, the picture that emerges from last year shows that Indian batsmen are no longer as effective against spinners as before.
Pant-Gill-Yashasvi’s batting average is excellent
Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate had stressed on this issue after India’s defeat in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. However, Rishabh Pant (average 70 runs in five matches), Shubman Gill (average 56 runs in 10 matches) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (average 115 runs in five matches) have performed well against spinners.
The teams are as follows:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jaspreet Bumrah and Yash Dayal.
Bangladesh: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Mehdi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Syed Khaled Ahmed and Zakir Ali Anik.
Tags: india vs bangladesh, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli
FIRST PUBLISHED : September 18, 2024, 16:25 IST