In one of the more pointless international cricket matches of the year India host Bangladesh in a one-off Test match in Hyderabad on Thursday with each side looking to pick up a victory which in the grand scheme of things will be pretty meaningless.
On the flip side of that India do have Australia arriving for a four match Test series soon so a win here would give them momentum ahead of that. Bangladesh want to prove themselves at this level so both have something individually to play for here.
India
The Indians have been on an amazing run of form in home Test matches in recent times having dispatched of New Zealand and England and doing so pretty ruthlessly. With another big series to come after this they won’t want to take their foot off the gas in this match and Virat Kohli has never shown any signs of taking things easy during his captaincy stint thus far.
The big thing for India heading into this match is that there isn’t really a weakness in their outfit at the minute. They look very strong with the bat and with the ball they have impressed for much of the last six months. I wouldn’t expect anything to change in either facet of the game ahead of this match.
Bangladesh
There have been more than enough signs that Bangladesh are improving over the five day format in recent times. They have won a Test match against England this winter and were more competitive than many expected them to be in New Zealand last month so they can head here with a fair amount of confidence.
Conditions in New Zealand never really suited them, especially with the ball, so it will be interesting to see how their bowlers react to the pressure of performing in conditions that are more conducive to them. It won’t be just the bowlers who are under pressure to deliver though. The batsmen will have to put up big totals if Bangladesh are to win this.
Team News
Wriddhiman Saha is back for India for this match which leaves their only selection issue whether to play the extra batsman or the bowler. If they go for the batsman Karun Nair should play while Jayant Yadav is the bowling option.
Bangladesh have Mushfiqur Rahim back keeping wicket and skippering the side after he missed the New Zealand series with injury. Imrul Kayes is out with a thigh injury so Soumya Sarkar will continue to open the batting.
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
This will be just the fourth Test match to be staged on this ground. India have beaten New Zealand and Australia here in the previous two as well as drawing with the Kiwis too. Bangladesh play a Test on this ground for the first time.
Previous matches here haven’t been the highest scoring and usually there is a little something in it for the seamers early on so we may not get the high scoring we got in some of the matches India and England played.
Betting
I can’t say my appetite is whetted too much by this match from a betting point of view, or indeed from a cricket follower one either, but there are a few markets priced up for the match and one of the side markets in particular appeals to me.
That comes in the performance markets where I’m interested in Shakib-al-Hasan. He comes here in brilliant form. In the last two series he has belted 217 and 59 in the first innings in New Zealand and perhaps just as importantly he has taken 18 wickets in those four matches so he is playing really nicely at the minute.
He has a performance line of 121.5 here and if you broke that down we would need either two wickets per innings with the ball and 21 runs in each with the bat or 41 runs in each innings and one wicket in both bowling innings. Either option is perfectly reasonable while an outstanding innings with either will cover this total too. I’m happy to take the over on that line.
Tips
WON – Back S.al-Hasan’s Performance – Over 121.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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