Bangladesh in India 2024 [ 2 Test, 3 T20Is ]

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Team India's squad for the 1st Test :

Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.

[PKBasu]

Very odd selections. I don't see why Yash Dayal gets picked. If they were looking for a left-arm pacer, Khaleel did better in the Duleep match. (Arshdeep didn't help his chances in the Duleep match). But I think they should have picked Harshit Rana, who proved a handful in the first innings -- and can bat too.
KL Rahul surely CANNOT be back in the test squad!! A proven failure over nearly 50 tests. A second innings 50 in the Duleep match surely cannot suffice to compensate for a career of failure in tests.

[Sanjay]

Drop Damaadji (KL Rahul).
This guy walks in and out of teams at his own free will like the stereotypical son in law (damaadji) who can do no wrong.

[karr]

So what's our likely starting XI folks? I presume Rohit and Gambhir will go with the following for the Chennai match
Rohit, Jaiswal, Gill, Kohli, Rahul, Pant, Jadeja, Ashwin, Kuldeep, Siraj, Bumrah

i.e.
Gill because he is Gill and God said so
Rahul over Sarfraz since he has Rohit's backing
Kuldeep didn't do well in Duleep Trophy, I think, but do we have the courage to play both Axar and Jadeja?

I am worried about this entire Bangladesh squad. To beat Pak in Pak, and on the back of excellent fast bowling indicates a serious test match squad with high levels of fitness and discipline. India can easily take a pasting if we aren't humble and go in with hunger.
I am somewhat surprised that our starting XI didn't play the Duleep Trophy - how are they going to be test match fit? Bangladesh, however come in, battle hardened and test ready. Am I the only one feeling nervous here.

[Atithee]

Not nervous about Bangladesh. Pakistan is an in-fighting mess with poor test match temperament. They are the new West Indies who implode without any warning.

[PKBasu]

In general, incumbents should play unless they have shown poor form in the last test. Devdutt Padikkal must count himself incredibly unlucky to have been dropped even from the squad, after making 65 in his only test innings. I think Sarfaraz should absolutely play ahead of Rahul (averaging 34.08 after 50 tests!!), as they did almost as well or poorly as each other in the first Duleep game, and Sarfaraz is the incumbent with a batting average of 50 in his three tests. But the gang has already picked Rahul for reasons best known to them.

I think Akash Deep should play ahead of Siraj, partly because Akash is the test incumbent but more because of his spectacular 9-wicket haul in the Duleep game. He is the in-form pacer. But I think Siraj will still play. So I think karr's XI will indeed play at Chennai.

[rajitghosh]

India already in deep trouble at 40/3. Hope Pant and Jaiswal can save the day. The next batter Rahul is anyway a walking wicket.

[PKBasu]

Rohit and Virat clearly shouldn't have been exempted from the Duleep Trophy.
India 88/3 at lunch, with Jaiswal and Pant looking good. Pant had a half-chance dropped (although the ball fell below the first slip's hand, i.e., he needed to be half a foot ahead in order to catch it; second slip might have done better going for that catch); this was when India were 83/3, and the edge was off Taskin Ahmed. Hasan Mahmud has got all three wickets.

[prasen9]

Indian selections are a classic example of casteism (not real casts). The higher caste players are Gill and Rahul. They get picked even though Rahul has been the worst batter for us who has played 50 tests. And, Gill perhaps has been the worst batter in the recent times. They keep getting picked over the performers: Sarfaraz, Jurel, Padikkal. Sad.

When you ignore failures and pick failures, in the long run, you will be suboptimal. I hope Rahul finally shows he can bat and plays a long innings.

[rajitghosh]

Down to Sir Jadeja and Ashwin to bail India out again. Can't Rahul be caught for doping or something and banned forever? I guess even if he is caught his father-in-law would bail him out. Nothing can be more embarassing than a test match loss to Bangladesh. Memories of 2007 World Cup coming back.

[Atithee]

Actually, this reminds me of a test match where India started off very bad but came and scored like 400 in the second innings. It was many years ago. I’m not worried yet.

Edit—it’s this one, I think. Actually BD started with 400. I think it was first ever test between India and Bangladesh.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/ind ... -scorecard

[PKBasu]

That first test against Bangladesh seemed to be headed for embarrassment for India, but Bangladesh couldn't sustain it in the second innings, after India took a small first innings lead with contributions all the way down. It was Ganguly's first test as captain, I think.

India have never lost a test to Bangladesh, home or away. So there is a lot at stake here. Excellent partnership between Ashwin and Jadeja has taken India to 220/6. Ashwin was aggressive in his counterattack from ball 1, but has cooled down (unnecessarily) after getting to 40. Jadeja began slow, but has got on top of the bowling now. They need to put up a big stand.

[PKBasu]

India have raced to 274/6, with Ashwin on 74 and Jadeja 51*.

[rajitghosh]

Ashwin's century pulls India out of the woods. Looks like Ashwin and Jadeja would win us this test both with bat and ball.

[PKBasu]

Magnificent century off 106 balls from Ashwin. And a superb unbeaten partnership of 195 runs with Jadeja have taken India to the safety (perhaps even dominance) of 339/6 in exactly 80 overs (despite the addition of an extra half hour). Ashwin's chanceless century was truly a superb counter-attacking innings. He dominated right from the start, and the pair batted at well over 5 runs an over to simply obliterate any pressure and thoroughly transform the innings.Jadeja's innings wasn't quite as flawless, but it was beautifully put together as well. He bats with circumspection mixed with occasional calculated aggression in tests, and that method worked very well today.

Kudos to our master test allrounders.