The India vs Bangladesh 1st Test will be the start of a lot of things. It’ll be Gautam Gambhir’s first match in India and the first the Indian cricket team will play red-ball cricket under him. The Chennai game will kick off the Indian test swing, which will start on September 19 and end on January 7. It’ll act as preparations for the India vs Australia Test series as they resume their journey for a third consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) Final.
To qualify for the final, one has to remain in the top two. As of now, Team India is currently ranked atop the points table for the 2023-2025 cycle. But it won’t be easy to remain in that position. Rohit Sharma’s team is slated to play ten Tests in the next four months, five of which will be played Down Under. That means that Team India needs to ace the home season. Five matches, the first of which starts tomorrow, will mean much more given the WTC Final 2025 could be on the line.
The Bangladesh Challenge
Facing Bangladesh would’ve been easy even a couple of months ago, but now that they’ve beaten Pakistan away from home 2-0, things aren’t going to be that easy. Bangladesh are a team that has great spinners, experienced batters, and now pacers who can terrorize batting line-ups with pace and bounce.
Facing Najmul Hossain Shanto’s Tigers, the Indian management has decided to roll out a red-soil pitch. That means, we can announce good bounce and assistant for pacers. In yesteryear, this might have troubled Bangladesh but now with Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Khaled Ahmed present, pace bowling won’t be an issue for them.
If the pitch spins after the first couple of days, they have the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz to handle the Indian batters. Their batting isn’t that great, though. Mushfiqur Rahim might be their best batter; he comes to bat at 6 or 7. Similarly, Litton Das, their other in-form batter, comes to bat after Mushfiqur. This means that the top or middle order isn’t as effective.
Australia, 3-0 or 2-1?
Assuming India wins all of their remaining Test matches at home, they’ll find themselves atop the WTC points table without a doubt. However, if one of these matches is drawn or India loses one, they could be in trouble. In case India doesn’t win more than 3 matches out of their five against Bangladesh and New Zealand, they’ll have to win at least three of the five matches to make it into the WTC Final.
Having already beaten Australia in the two Border Gavaskar series away from home, India might not find themselves in the victorious camp. Mohammed Shami might not be available, Mohammed Siraj isn’t that trustworthy, and other pacers aren’t just ready yet. In the batting department, it’ll be interesting to see how Yashasvi Jaiswal does in pacy and bouncy tracks after he failed in South Africa.
Team India’s Test schedule until WTC Final 2025
| Series | No. of Tests | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh tour of India | 2 | September 19 to October 1 |
| New Zealand tour of India | 3 | October 16 to November 5 |
| India tour of Australia | 5 | November 22 to January 7 |
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