Quality and rhythm-wise, India are obviously better placed than Bangladesh going into the second and final Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur beginning on Thursday. That said, there could be a little bit of concern in the Indian camp as stand-in captain KL Rahul hurt his thumb towards the end of Wednesday’s training session.
Rahul was hit while taking throwdowns from batting coach Vikram Rathour. He had applied ice packs on the bruised area, and it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to play in the Test. Rathour, though, feels the injury isn’t serious and that Rahul should be able to play.
“It doesn’t look serious,” Rathour said at the pre-match news conference.
“He (Rahul) seems to be fine. Hopefully, he’ll be okay. The doctors are looking at it, but hopefully, he’ll be okay.”
In case Rahul too misses out, No.3 batsman and vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara will have to lead India while Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran — in the squad as a back-up opener with Rohit Sharma unavailable — could be in line for a debut.
From his perspective as well, Rahul would certainly like to get a big score and make some kind of a statement before the all-important home Tests against Australia in February and March.
In fact, just Virat Kohli and he were the ones who couldn’t score much in the previous Test in Chittagong when almost all the others in the Indian batting line-up had made meaningful contributions.
To talk about Kohli, he must be desperate to break the century drought in Test cricket, having done so in the other two formats.
Those two centuries (in this year’s Asia Cup and the recent ODI series against Bangladesh) had come in inconsequential games, but getting three figures in this Test in Mirpur should carry much more significance for both India and their former captain.
Currently second in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings, winning in Mirpur will help India consolidate their position and also firm up their chances of making the WTC final.
So if Kohli got a big one here, he won’t just benefit India but will also be in a much better frame of mind before the Australia series. Both Kohli and Rahul spent quite some time with Rathour during Wednesday’s practice, having discussions as well.
“I’m not going to get into those discussions, as they keep happening. It’s just about a few things here and there, and there’s nothing to be concerned about.
“We are looking forward to both of them scoring runs and we hope both of them play big innings,” Rathour said.
Rahul’s condition aside, changes are unlikely in the rest of the Indian line-up.
The onus will again be on the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel as more bounce and turn are expected on the Mirpur track.
‘Good practice’
Playing in spin-friendly tracks in Bangladesh should help India in their preparation for the upcoming contests versus Australia, Rathour believes.
“You expect wickets to turn on the subcontinent. And after this, we will be playing an important series against Australia where wickets are expected to facilitate spin,” Rathour said.
“So it’s good practice for us. It will be a good preparation for our batters. We are not discussing anything tactically but looking forward to playing good cricket.”
