It is said that it is better to be in a position where you are ‘spoilt for choices.’ And that exactly is the situation Team India find themselves in. Karun Nair or Ajinkya Rahane at number 5, Wriddhiman Saha in for Parthiv Patel, K.L. Rahul or Abhinav Mukund. For Kohli, this is hunky-dory!
With the Bangladesh Test under 24 hours away, India have had a dream run in their 13-Test match home season. We have played 8, won 7 and drawn one. Any captain would take it gleefully, Kohli as a captain has been flawless. If anything he has only upped his personal game. So for India, this Bangladesh Test is highly important to get their combinations right before locking horns with the mighty Australians, in the last leg of the season.
On the other hand, Bangladesh will be playing for pride, if they draw the Test, it will be victory for them. Bangladesh were walloped by a second string India A, led by Abhinav Mukund. There are a few players still to watch out for, the likes of Shakib, Mushfiqur, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das and Taijul Islam. Mehedi Hasan is somebody Bangladesh will look at to take wickets at crucial junctures of the match. He recently ran riot against England, in Bangladesh.
Pitch: Historically, the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad is considered to be a batting paradise, hence runs will gallore and spinners should get some purchase from the pitch from third day, lunch.
Toss: Whichever team wins the toss, without a doubt bats first.
The squads
India: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Abhinav Mukund, Kuldeep Yadav.
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain/wicketkeeper), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah Riyadh, Mominul Haque, Sabbir Rahaman, Shakib al Hasan, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Mosaddek Hosain, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Subhasish Roy, Taijul Islam, Shafiul Islam.
Match starts at 9:30 AM IST
