India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test Playing XI Prediction: India have boosted their chances of appearing at next year’s ICC World Test Championship final with a comprehensive 188-run victory over a gritty Bangladesh in Chattogram on Sunday.
Now with one eye on cementing the WTC Final berth, stand-in skipper KL Rahul and his men are expected go for the kill in the second Test against Bangladesh.
The race for the top-two spots in the WTC standings has become more interesting with India (55.77 PCT) moving up to the second position following South Africa’s (54.55 PCT) heavy loss to Australia (76.92 PCT) in two-day Gabba Test.
Injury and team news
Rohit Sharma is yet to recover from his thumb injury, no changes are expected in the Indian playing eleven. So Shubman Gill is expected to keep his place. Rahul too would look to lead from the front after the disappointment of his two innings in the first Test. Cheteshwar Pujara, who made a comeback with the one-off Test in England, has consolidated his number three position. The stage will also be set for Virat Kohli to score his first Test hundred since November 2019.
For Bangladesh, bowling coach Allan Donald confirmed that skipper Shakib Al Hasan will be fit to play. Bangladesh have also added left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed to the squad. Nasum is likely to make his Test debut on Thursday. Former captain Mominul Haque too could get a game.
Bowling compostion
Considering the conditions, the bowlers will once again be looking to target the stumps, be it the pacers or slower bowlers.
Kuldeep, playing his first Test since February last year, flaunted his artistry with a match haul of eight wickets.
Compared to lead spinner R Ashwin and Axar Patel, he was slightly under-bowled in the second innings but the left-arm wrist spinner still managed to take three wickets. Ashwin could manage only one wicket in spin friendly conditions and he will be looking to make up for that here. Axar displayed his utility to the team with four strikes in the second innings with the batters struggling against his fast left-arm spin.
There is also a chance that Jaydev Unadkat, who led Saurashtra to title win in Vijay Hazare Trophy, might get a game replacing Umesh Yadav.
Bangladesh too will be confident of their chances given how they batted on day four. Rookie opener Zakir Hasan has shown he belongs at this level. Senior batters including Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim will be aiming to learn from their mistakes and make big hundreds.
India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test Match Details: India vs Bangladesh Test Series continues in Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. A total of 23 matches have been played so far at this ground and teams batting first have won 12 while those batting second have won 8. The higest score at this ground is 730/6 by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh.
India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test Pitch Report: The Shere Bangla National Stadium is a batting-friendly wicket with a reasonable amount of assistance for the swing bowlers early on. There is a huge amount of help for the spinners on this track later on. Batting will be easier toward the latter half as compared to the first half.
India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test Weather Report: The temperature is expected to hover around 22°C on the matchdays with 70% humidity and 3-7 km/hr wind speed. There are no chances of precipitation during the game.
India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test Predicted XI:
India XI: Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (C), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh XI: Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain
India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test Squads
Bangladesh Squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Zakir Hasan, Yasir Ali, Litton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan(c), Nurul Hasan(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Mominul Haque
India Squad: KL Rahul(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Saurabh Kumar, Srikar Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran