athanu avarude problemOriginally Posted by Inspector Balram
They did not try enough players of late.
pakaram aaru kalikkum
athanu avarude problem
They did not try enough players of late.
Can't take Bangladesh lightly: Pujara
Having made their Test debut against India in 2000, Bangladesh are set to play their maiden Test on Indian soil © Getty
There's very little anticipation when a number one ranked team plays a one-off Test match against a number nine team. But that's no factor to be considered as Cheteshwar Pujara reckons Bangladesh have had a good record playing in sub-continent of late, and is expecting fair contest between bat and ball during the one-off Test match against Bangladesh.
"I think it will be a fair contest," Pujara said on Monday (February 6). "When we tour Bangladesh, we get similar conditions. I don't think for them conditions will matter a lot. Whoever plays good cricket, I think they will have an opportunity to win this game," he reasoned.
"They have been playing well in the sub-continent. So, probably, that is one team that have done well against England. We can't take them lightly. But, at the same time, we played very good cricket in 2016. So, probably, we would stick to the same thing. We are number one team in the world at the moment. We would like to maintain that, the way we played our cricket in 2016, we would like to repeat the same thing in 2017."
While acknowledging that the home side has the upperhand, the 29-year old, also spoke about the challenges in the next two months. "Probably, we will have the upper hand because the way we played last year in 2016, fast bowlers bowled well, lower order continues to hit and batsmen have been batting well. One thing I believe is that if we play as a team and we play to our potential, we will have the upper hand in this game."
Pujara also highlighted the significance of enjoying a break ahead of the big series. "I think it is always good to play cricket. So, whether it is hectic schedule, I always believe that cricketers, all of us are young and we always enjoy playing cricket."
Mehedi Hasan, the 19-year old wonder, was instrumental in Bangladesh levelling the series against England in October 2016. There has been a bit of buzz around him of late, but Pujara seemed unflustered and maintained he'll only be able to comment once he faces the wily offspinner.
"I have seen him bowled little bit against England. Looks like a good bowler but, when I play, I will be able to know much about him. He bowled well against England and that was a different wicket altogether. There was a lot of turn on that particular wicket. Both the Test matches, he bowled well. So, I can't comment much on his bowling just looking at it from television. Once I face him I will be able to comment much."
India vs Bangladesh: Ravichandran Ashwin says Hyderabad track allows bowler to be 'imaginative'
Hyderabad: India's premier strike bowler Ravichandran Ashwin feels the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad gives him a chance to be "more imaginative" with his deliveries.
During a training session on practice pitches, the deliveries were not bouncing off the track but Ashwin was not perturbed by the lack of bite.
"At this ground, it bounces a bit more at the centre wicket (match strip). Entire facility is great. It's a lush green outfield. This is a big ground for a spinner, you can toss up a bit more even in shorter version of the game. There is a little more hold on the wicket, the bounce gives you allowance to be imaginative. I enjoy bowling here," Ashwin told bcci.tv.
Ravichandran Ashwin added that facing Bangladesh would not be an easy task for the hosts. AFP
Talking about Bangladesh, India's opponents for the upcoming one-off Test, Ashwin said that the visitors "can't be taken lightly" as "they are a quality side on the rise".
"They are coming from a tour of New Zealand and we all know that it is not easy to tour New Zealand," he said.
Ashwin's magical form started last year with his five-wicket haul in Fatullah and he would love to replicate that performance against the minnows once again.
"I would love to repeat that performance as the ball was coming out of my hand like a dream."
Ashwin was rested during the recent T20I series against England as he was suffering from adductor pubalgia.
"I was suffering from adductor pubalgia or athletic pubalgia. I have been managing it since England series and I needed this break to recoup before the Test series. The break was all about rehab and doing lot of training, active recovery. I was training two-three times and didn't have much time to do other things than getting ready for the series," he stated.
Will Mahmudullah rise to Test challenge?
He has been excellent in transforming himself from a bits-and-pieces allrounder to a force to reckon with in limited-overs cricket. Can h
Mahmudullah had a torrid tour of New Zealand in January © Getty Images Posted on the boundary at the Gymkhana ground, Mahmudullah looks like a well-settled cricketer. He has come prepared for the heat, with a wide-brimmed hat and plenty of sunscreen and his concentration is on the game. It's the only practice the Bangladeshis get before facing India in a Test match on Thursday.
Mahmudullah is one of the five most experienced cricketers in the team, and there is very little doubt about his place in the XI. He will slot into the middle order, his aim to build on a good start or arrest an early collapse. He can bowl some useful offspin should the frontline bowlers need a rest, is a safe fielder and can largely be trusted to stay calm under pressure. Indeed, on occasion, he has indulged in a word or two with the opposition when they were in vulnerable positions. Mahmudullah is considered a future Bangladesh captain but his Test performances in the last two years have been a bit below par.
Since Bangladesh came back from a six-month break in September 2016, Mahmudullah has rescued the ODI team twice - against Afghanistan and England - and had a cracking BPL season but could barely find any runs against New Zealand. Barring a fifty in a T20I, his scores read 0, 1, 3 ,19, 18, 26, 5, 19 and 38.
When he wasn't being uprooted by stinging yorkers, Mahmudullah kept chasing wide deliveries, inside edging on to the stumps and was also strangled down the leg side. With the ball, he conceded 28 runs in an over during Colin Munro's hundred, and most surprisingly even dropped a few catches. Mahmudullah had it rough in New Zealand, but he will be expected to bounce back in India.
His rise as a match-winner in limited-overs cricket has been well documented. From a bits-and-pieces allrounder with occasional flashes of brilliance, he smacked back-to-back hundreds in the World Cup in 2015 and then excelled as Bangladesh's finisher in the Asia Cup T20Is in 2016. His ODI batting average since November 2014 is 39.73, much higher than his 32.85 career average. In Tests, however, his record slumps: only one fifty in his last 16 innings.
Mahmudullah has fashioned himself into a finisher in Twenty20 cricket © Associated Press So it begs the question, is Mahmudullah simply giving more priority to the shorter formats? Judging by how hard he trains for Test cricket, it is more likely that he just hasn't got the rewards as quickly as he has done in ODIs and T20Is.
Is he lacking the technical skill for Test cricket? It is true that he often played away from his body in New Zealand and struggled when the bowlers tucked him up with short balls. But Mahmudullah is an all-round batsman, and in time he should realise that he can manoeuvre some of those climbing deliveries square of the wicket and get off strike.
How about his metal fortitude? Of late, he has been rather extravagant with his strokeplay. Last October, with three minutes to stumps on the second day of the Dhaka Test against England, he was bowled by Zafar Ansari attempting an across-the-line sweep shot. He would rarely do something so unnecessary in ODIs or T20Is.
When Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha asked him to tighten up outside the off stump before the 2015 World Cup, he worked on his balance and now plays the rising delivery with more punch. When he was asked to become a T20 finisher last year, he expanded his power game and found new areas in the field to tap into for quick runs. Now he has been asked to become a pillar in the middle order of the Test team.
What he does in the three formats is not easy - he essentially has three separate roles - but Mahmudullah has been pretty good at taking on new challenges.
Naaleyaanu Naaleyaanu
Bangladesh brace for rare big occasion
February 9-13, 2017, Hyderabad
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)
'Jadeja, Ashwin proven match winners' - Kumble
Big picture
This is a match at least 15 years in the making. Ever since the FTP came into existence back in 2001, every Full Member has hosted Bangladesh for bilateral cricket but India. For 16 years the BCCI has laughed in the face of the FTP. Ironically, when Bangladesh have finally made it to their first bilateral international match in India, the faces of the BCCI that denied Bangladesh these matches are no more in the BCCI.
This apathy has been one of the reasons there is a bit of bitterness between the two sides. It manifests itself more in limited-overs cricket where Bangladesh compete on more even terms with India. There are external factors at play too, but there is enough needle on the field.
The big challenge for Bangladesh is to carry that limited-overs competitiveness into the ultimate test in cricket: playing well for five days in conditions unfamiliar to you. After beating England in a home Test, Bangladesh went to New Zealand and showed they had come a long way from being a side teams could declare on with only 200 in credit just to save the trouble of turning up for a fifth day. They showed they could put big runs on the board after their spinners had shown they could take 20 wickets against England. Yet they learnt that you can lose Tests despite playing well for long durations. That you can lose despite nearly scoring 600 and taking lead. That the good Test sides play good cricket for longer than the ones that lose.
It is only going to get tougher in India who are on top of their game. They have got two spinners in the forms of their lives, they have got seven batsmen with valid claim to just five or six slots, they have just dropped a wicketkeeper who was pivotal to their success in the last series because the regulation wicketkeeper is back. They know and love these conditions. They had already blanked New Zealand and England earlier in the season.
What Bangladesh have going for them is spinners more accustomed to bowling in these conditions than those of the teams that visited India earlier in the season. On that basis alone, some quarters consider them to be the best placed of the four teams travelling to India this season. If they are to give India a scare it will have to be through their bowlers. The batsmen will still have to keep them in the game for long durations.
It is a big occasion for Bangladesh, and it will need a big performance to test the big boys of Test cricket in their own conditions.
Form guide
India WWWWD (last five completed Tests, most recent first)
Bangladesh LLWLD
Mushfiqur Rahim is 78 runs away from reaching the 3000 mark in Test cricket © AFP
In the spotlight
Mushfiqur Rahim made his Test debut in 2005, Virat Kohli in 2011. Mushfiqur has played 51 Tests in 12 years, Kohli 53 in six. Kohli spent the first four years of his career apprenticing under some of the best Test cricketers ever. Mushfiqur is already the second-most experienced Bangladesh Test cricketer, which means he and his team-mates have mostly had to learn by themselves. This difference in experience will be a big factor in Test cricket.
Shakib Al Hasan is the best Bangladesh cricketer of all time. He now has Bangladesh's highest Test score to go with it, but as the result in that Wellington Test showed the team needs more from him if they are to be competitive in Test cricket.
Ajinkya Rahane has had an indifferent home season after having laid claim to being India's best all-conditions batsman. He recovered with a fighting century in Indore but again began shakily against England before getting injured and watching his replacement Karun Nair score a triple-century in Chennai. Rahane should play - he has too much credit to be dropped just because his replacement played one big innings - but will be slightly anxious to get back scoring runs.
Brains trust: Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli will have to make a choice between Karun Nair and Jayant Yadav © AFP
Team news
If India play five bowlers, Nair could be left out despite the triple-century in his last Test. The choice will come down between him and Jayant Yadav depending on conditions. India should continue with the pace combination of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav unless they expect lateral movement, which makes Bhuvneshwar Kumar a factor.
"One game does not overshadow two years of hard work from another player," Kohli said of the choice between Rahane and Nair. "You have to understand that Jinx averages 50 in the last two years and is the most solid batsman in the Test format. We will look at it from that point of view. Karun was stepping into his shoes. What he did was remarkable, sealing his spot as far as the squad is concerned, but you can't overlook two years of hard work from Ajinkya. He desesrves to walk back into the team whenever he is fit."
India (probable) 1 M Vijay, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Karun Nair/ Jayant Yadav, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ravindra Jadeja, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav
Mushfiqur will come back and take his place as captain and wicketkeeper after missing the Christchurch Test because of a thumb injury. Soumya Sarkar will continue to open in the absence of Imrul Kayes. Bangladesh should play three spiners including Shakib with Taskin Ahmed and Kamrul Islam Rabbi taking the seam-bowling slots. In the unlikely scenario that they play three seamers, Bangladesh could go for Subhasis Roy instead of Taijul Islam.
Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mominul Haque 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim ( capt. & wk), 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mehedi Hasan, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Kamrul Islam Rabbi
Pitch and conditions
The pitch is likely to be a typical Indian surface: slow and good for batting to start off with and to assist spin in the later stages of the match. There is nothing out of ordinary to how the pitch looks. There is no weather disturbance expected during the Test.
Stats and trivia
- Mushfiqur is eight short of becoming the first Bangladesh wicketkeeper to reach 100 dismissals.
- Mushfiqur needs 78 runs to reach the 3000 mark. He will be the fourth Bangladesh batsman to do so after Tamim Iqbal, Shakib and Habibul Bashar.
- This is the first time India have two bowlers - R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - at the top of the ICC bowlers' rankings.
- Ashwin needs two wickets in the next three Tests to become the fastest to 250 Test wickets. Dennis Lillee holds the record of getting there in 48 Tests. This will be Ashwin's 45th Test.
Quotes
"Both aspects [spin and pace] we are doing well, that's why we are No. 1. Not just because of batting, bowlers have taken 20 wickets. I think bowlers' roles has been more important and we are going to have that mindset they are going to make you win games. You can't win matches if you don't get 20 wickets. We won't focus on the opposition. We know what talent they have but we won't think what they are going to do."
India's captain Virat Kohli wants to focus on bowlers and his own side
expecting a good performance from Indian pace bowlers.
Will be good to get early wickets.
Vijay, Kohli hundreds headline India's dominance
India 356/3 (90.0 ov)
Stumps - Day 1
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