The Test series between India and Bangladesh concludes on Friday when the two sides head to Kanpur for the second and final Test match with more World Test Championship points on the line for both teams.
India won the opening match of the series so they only need a draw in order to win the series. Bangladesh head to Kanpur knowing that if they are going to come away with a share of things they have to win this game.
India
India went into the series with a seriously good home record to protect. There were eyes on them because this was their first match under Gautam Gambhir and when they were 144-6 there were doubts beginning to set in but they haven’t built up a formidable record on home soil by meekly surrendering when the going gets tough. Instead they dug in and once they got control back of the match they ended up running out very easy winners.
India will hope that their openers can come to the party a little more in this match, especially when you consider that the pitch here won’t have as much in it for the seamers as it did in Chennai. The other reason why India are so good at home is because they have a bowling unit which is good in all conditions and once they get a grip on a contest they very rarely let it go and that will be the big issue for Bangladesh in this one. It will be interesting to see if India play hard for the win when a draw is enough to win the series.
Bangladesh
I think Bangladesh gave a creditable showing in that opening game of the series. It was always going to be a tough ask for them to get anything from the match even though they went into the series full of confidence after the historic 2-0 win in Pakistan. They deserve credit for having India in a bit of trouble in the first innings but once they couldn’t quite finish the job off given that they were batting last in Chennai it was always going to be a struggle to get the win.
At no stage did they give in but they just couldn’t wrestle any sort of foothold back in the match after the partnership in the first innings which took the game away from them. Other than just tighten up at the end of the innings there isn’t a whole lot more we can ask of Bangladesh. You do wonder if things would have been different had Bangladesh have batted first and been able to put a bit of scoreboard pressure on India. They will hope for the opportunity to do that here.
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Team News
India are expected to play a third spinner in this match but they haven’t declared which one it will be. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel appear to be the top options with Akash Deep the man who is likely to miss out.
Bangladesh are also likely to bring another spinner into their XI in which case that would mean that Taijul Islam will come into the side potentially in place of Nahid Rana. That might ease the bowling load of Shakib Al Hasan which could see him move up the order.
Betting
The odds on the draw for this match has plummeted since the forecast became a little clearer. The opening two days are said to be in with a large chance of rain at different times throughout the day but unless both are fully washed out I’m not convinced there will be no chance of the draw here. Even if they are it wouldn’t be the first time in India that a Test match has been completed in 294 overs which is what would be left for the final three days.
It might be that India get bigger should the rain fall heavily on the opening day but I can’t avoid getting involved in the home side at odds against. We saw in that first game that even when they were well behind in the match they could still turn things around and win easily so if they get out in front from the beginning in this one they could still find a win inside three days. I think it is too early for the price on India to be this big.
Tips
Back India to beat Bangladesh for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with BetVictor
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