1st Test: Bangladesh vs India at Chittagong
The second test after the World Cup starts with Bangladesh taking on India at Chittagong. Although the one-day series was won by India, Bangladesh put up more than a fight and made sure that India would have to work for their victories. Perhaps this is the turning point for Bangladesh cricket? Who knows. But this test will go a long way to stating whereabouts they are in the test arena.
Bangladesh made the Super Eights stage in the World Cup and they would be gunning to prove they have also better in the test arena. Bangladesh are going to go in with a settled line-up, a team that has more certainty than India's. India are still undecided about what they will do. They only have one specialist opening batsmen at the moment, that being Wasim Jaffer and captain Ruhul Dravid has been toying with the possibility of playing five bowlers in the match with conditions expected to be energy sapping. And even then, some of the bowlers and batsmen for the Indians won't be guaranteed a spot with only Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble the certanties for the Indian bowling line-up.
Bangladesh are may only play two pace bowlers and in that scenario Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain will be expected to open the bowling. Should that happen, Syed Rasel should consider himself unlucky after a good World Cup campaign. However, either one of Saqibul Hasan and Mehrab Hossain Jnr will make their debuts today after helping Bangladesh make the Super Eight stage of the recent World Cup.
This match all depends on the will of the Bangladesh batsmen, if they can stay at the crease for as long as they can, then their chances of winning the match will continue to rise. After a horrible World Cup performance, India will be very keen to get off to a good start in the test arena. Expect a good match from these two.
Bangladesh XII: Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bahsar*, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Saqibul Hasan, Khaled Mashud+, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque jnr, Shahadat Hossain, Mehrab Hossain jnr (1 to be omitted)
India XV: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid*, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni+, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Rajesh Pawar, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, RP Singh (4 to be omitted)
Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Daryl Harper
3rd Umpire: Nadir Shah
Weather:
(All Temperature in Degrees Celcius)
Friday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 31
Saturday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 31
Sunday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 30
Monday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 30
Tuesday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 30
Game starts at 12pm AWST (10am local time, 4am GMT).
The second test after the World Cup starts with Bangladesh taking on India at Chittagong. Although the one-day series was won by India, Bangladesh put up more than a fight and made sure that India would have to work for their victories. Perhaps this is the turning point for Bangladesh cricket? Who knows. But this test will go a long way to stating whereabouts they are in the test arena.
Bangladesh made the Super Eights stage in the World Cup and they would be gunning to prove they have also better in the test arena. Bangladesh are going to go in with a settled line-up, a team that has more certainty than India's. India are still undecided about what they will do. They only have one specialist opening batsmen at the moment, that being Wasim Jaffer and captain Ruhul Dravid has been toying with the possibility of playing five bowlers in the match with conditions expected to be energy sapping. And even then, some of the bowlers and batsmen for the Indians won't be guaranteed a spot with only Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble the certanties for the Indian bowling line-up.
Bangladesh are may only play two pace bowlers and in that scenario Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain will be expected to open the bowling. Should that happen, Syed Rasel should consider himself unlucky after a good World Cup campaign. However, either one of Saqibul Hasan and Mehrab Hossain Jnr will make their debuts today after helping Bangladesh make the Super Eight stage of the recent World Cup.
This match all depends on the will of the Bangladesh batsmen, if they can stay at the crease for as long as they can, then their chances of winning the match will continue to rise. After a horrible World Cup performance, India will be very keen to get off to a good start in the test arena. Expect a good match from these two.
Bangladesh XII: Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bahsar*, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Saqibul Hasan, Khaled Mashud+, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque jnr, Shahadat Hossain, Mehrab Hossain jnr (1 to be omitted)
India XV: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid*, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni+, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Rajesh Pawar, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, RP Singh (4 to be omitted)
Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Daryl Harper
3rd Umpire: Nadir Shah
Weather:
(All Temperature in Degrees Celcius)
Friday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 31
Saturday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 31
Sunday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 30
Monday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 30
Tuesday: Scattered Thunderstorms, 30
Game starts at 12pm AWST (10am local time, 4am GMT).
