At a time when the attention of all teams is building up to the ODI World Cup next year, there is another championship before it where qualification for the finals is heating up with every passing week. As India, hit by multiple injuries of late including to captain Rohit Sharma, aim to play aggressive cricket, as said by stand-in skipper KL Rahul, against Bangladesh in the Test series opener at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the race to make it to the WTC final for them also returns in a phase where Test cricket is happening from the sub-continent to the southern hemisphere.
The away series defeat to South Africa and losing the Edgbaston Test in England has meant India are in fourth place on the WTC points table. If they are to make it to a second successive WTC final, to be held at The Oval in June 2023, they need to win at least five, if not all six of their remaining Tests, including four against Australia at home in February-March.
This is where the challenge for the Indian team is – wins and draws will work, but not a loss. 2022 has been a year in which India have won only two out of five Tests played this year – both those wins came against Sri Lanka at home in March.
Moreover, with no Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, the task to get wins over slow turning pitches of Bangladesh and make up for the 2-1 ODI series loss becomes much more difficult. With the Indian batters not being great players of spin as compared to the previous generation of Test batters, the task is cut out for the current batting line-up to succeed in the challenge coming from Bangladesh captain and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan, off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.
India vs Bangladesh 1st Test Match Details
Venue: Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram
Date & Time: December 14-18, 9am IST onwards
Live Streaming and TV details: Sony Sports Network and SonyLiv website and app.
IND vs BAN 1st Test match Dream11 Prediction
Wicketkeeper: Rishabh Pant
Batters: Virat Kohli, Mominul Haque, Shubman Gill
All-rounders: Shakib al Hasan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mehidy Hasan Miraz
Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Ebadot Hossain
Captain: Axar Patel
Vice-captain: Shakib al Hasan
India vs Bangladesh 1st Test match Predicted 11
Bangladesh: Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque, Shakib al Hasan (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Anamul Haque/Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam/Taijul Islam and Taskin Ahmed.
India: KL Rahul (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj.