The brief Test series between Bangladesh and India concludes this week as the second Test between the two begins on Thursday and could see the two sides in action on Christmas Day depending on how long the match in Mirpur lasts.
India will go into this match eyeing up a 2-0 clean sweep which will keep their World Test Championship dreams alive while Bangladesh will be aiming for what would be a huge win for them and a massive dent to those Indian hopes.
Bangladesh
I think if we are being honest Bangladesh delivered what we expected them to in the first game. They were as competitive as they could be with the bat and the ball without being outclassed but they were always chasing the game and couldn’t quite get that session of play which was needed to draw level and give themselves a chance of causing an upset. You kind of always thought that Bangladesh’s best chance of success would be on a pitch which did something so that first game didn’t suit them.
To be fair to them though, they weren’t disgraced, their big players did what was expected of them and on a pitch which could bring more of a lottery feel about the play to it they have enough players in form to pounce if everything goes right for them. They have batters who have the confidence of scoring runs and a couple of spinners who could make life tricky for India. If Bangladesh can hang in the game here you just never quite know what might happen.
India
The pressure was all on India in that opening game and they dealt with it pretty well. It helped that they put up a decent first innings score and you always felt once they had that on the board they were always in control of the situation. Conditions probably suited India in that opening game and while that was the case they still needed to get that big score on the board. They will be looking for similar here even though the pitch might make for more inconsistent cricket.
What will have benefitted India going into this second match is the wickets that their spinners took in less than helpful conditions in the opening game, certainly when you compare them to what they are likely to get here. Batting will be harder but India have a couple of players who can launch counterattacks which could be significant here. Once again India know that they can’t afford to slip up if they are to stay in the hunt for the World Test Championship.
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Team News
Bangladesh are expected to have Taskin Ahmed back for this second Test after he missed the opening one. He is likely to come in for Ebadot Hossain in what would be a like for like replacement with the latter out with a back issue.
India have a little doubt over stand-in captain KL Rahul after he took a blow to the hand in the lead up to the match. He hasn’t been ruled out yet unlike Rohit Sharma but if he doesn’t play there will be a Test debut for Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Betting
There were 554 runs at the halfway mark in the opening game on a pitch where the wicket was pretty good for batting and had India enforced the follow on there is a good chance they would have won by an innings so I’m a little bit surprised that the run line is as high as 942.5 here. Scores under 200 are quite regular on this ground with the wicket tough for batting and having plenty in it for the bowlers and if we get a couple of those in this match then it is hard to see the match going over that line.
India didn’t enforce the follow on in Chattogram but I would imagine they will keen to get this over and done with as quickly as possible to get home and get a full week off before Sri Lanka arrive for more cricket. Bangladesh showed in that first innings that when the Indian spinners get a hold on them there is no immediate escape and with India playing three of them here I expect struggles for the home batters. I don’t think the Indian ones will have it all their own way with Taskin back for the home side so under 942.5 runs looks to have a better than even chance here so at 11/10 I’m happy to go under that line.
Tips
Back Under 942.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
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