INDIA VS BANGLADESH: FIVE TALKING
POINTS
The one off test match between
India vs Bangladesh will be starting tomorrow with a tough challenge expected
from hosts and India playing without MS Dhoni for the first time in a
bi-lateral series. It will be interesting to know how will he marshal his
troops and how will his boys perform. Here are some of the things that can be
expected from the Indian team.
1) HOW WILL VIRAT COPE IN THE
ABSENCE OF DHONI?
Though he has played two test
matches in his absence but this time it would be a lot different since he is
also the senior most player in the squad after Harbhajan. We have already seen how
effective he bats when he is the skipper of the team but his over aggressive
approach sometimes backfire against his own team. He must learn to mix caution
with aggression so that the team can perform well.
2) WILL PUJARA REDISCOVER BATTING
MOJO?
He was touted as the next wall
and his performances was absolutely world class till the tour of New Zealand
began where his batting form began to dip and the bowlers used to bowled him
between the bat and pad gap. Since 2014 he has played in 10 test matches all
outside India and has only scored mere 483 runs at an average of 24.15 with the
highest score of 73 runs and only two scores of fifty or more. Whats more
interesting to know that out of the 20 times he has been dismissed since 2014 he
has been dismissed to pacers 16 times. His county stint to Yorkshire has helped
him to gain the mental toughness to bat overseas and given the match is in
Indian subcontinent it would be no brainer that he will be expected to score heavily
in the single test match.
3) HOW WILL BHAJJI PERFORM?
After strings of some good
performances in the IPL, he was given the chance to shine again in the Indian
test outfit. After the ICC World Cup 2011 to February 2013, he played 10 test
matches and managed to take only 33 wickets. This resulted in him being dropped
of the Indian team and with the emergence of Ashwin and Ojha, it became even
more difficult to cement his place in the Indian team. Since then two years
have passed and it was looking like that we would not be able to see the
Turbinator spinning the ball again but his dedication to the game has bring him
back to the Indian team and with the match being played in Bangladesh, Bhajji
would be given more overs to bowl and can be expected to take some wickets.
4) IS SHIKHAR GOING TO MAKE THE
OPENING SPOT HIS OWN?
Some days ago news flashed on our
TV screen that KL Rahul has been ruled out of the series due to illness. This
meant that Gabbar will have one last chance to prove his worth in the test
squad after a series of disappointing performances in the year 2014 and 2015. After
the tour of New Zealand, he has played 6 test matches and has only managed to
score 289 runs at an average of 24.01 with only one score of 50+. Like Pujara,
majority of his dismissals came against pacers which strengthens the fact that
he has some problem with deliveries going away from him at pace. After a year
or so India will be playing their first test match in the Indian subcontinent
and our Gabbar will be itching to score some runs off his bat.
5) THE EMERGENCE OF WRIDDHIMAN
SAHA
Will the real Saha please stand
up? Probably the most unluckiest Indian player of this era. He is the best
wicket keeper in India but his real problem was that he was born in the era of
the Captain fantastic MSD. This ensured that he has to work harder than others
to stake a claim in the Indian side. Having been around the selectors radar for
the past 7-8 years, he has only played four test matches and more notably
three in the absence of MSD. In those 4 test matches he has scored a mere 147
runs which does not justify his talent as a batsman. Now that MSD has retired
from the test arena, he will be looking to cement the wicket keeper slot in the
Indian team with stiff competition coming from the Samsons and the Kartiks. An
extended run would in the team would help his cause and as it is said that the wicket
keepers are late bloomers, we would surely hope that Saha lives upto the
expectation.