The Bangladesh cricket team suffered a heavy defeat by 280 runs in the first Test of the two-match series against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. After going down without putting up much of a fight in the previous game, Bangladesh will have to pull up their socks up, to have any chance of challenging the Indian cricket team in the second Test match at the Green Park in Kanpur, which will begin on September 27.
In this article, SportsTiger looks at Bangladesh’s probable playing XI versus India for the second Test.
Openers: Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan
Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan were dismissed early in the first innings of the first Test against India, which led to the Bangladesh team getting bundled out for 149 runs. In the second innings, both the left-handed batters reached 30s, putting together an opening stand of 62 runs in pursuit of a 515-run target, but it didn’t prove to be enough for Bangladesh to win the Test match in Chennai.
Middle Order: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk)
After losing his wicket early in the first innings, Najmul Hossain Shanto, the captain of Bangladesh cricket team, scored a fighting 82 off 127 to keep his side in the battle while chasing down a mammoth total in their second innings. Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim, the two of the most experienced batters in Bangladesh line-up, had a Test match to forget, getting dismissed cheaply in both their innings.
Litton Das, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter, was expected to be one of the mainstays of the batting line-up of the visitors against a formidable Indian bowling attack, but he proved to be a major disappointment in Chennai last week.
All-rounders: Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz
Shakib Al Hasan got a couple of starts in the first Test against India in Chennai, but he wasn’t able to put together an innings of substance to help Bangladesh challenge the hosts, while he was unable to take any wickets with the ball as well. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was quite expensive with the ball at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, on a pitch which didn’t provide much assistance, while he didn’t score many runs across both the innings.
Bowlers: Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud
With the conditions expected to favour the spinners in the second Test in Kanpur, left-arm spin bowler Taijul Islam could get picked in the Bangladesh playing XI in place of Nahid Rana, who wasn’t quite as effective as the other two fast bowlers in Chennai Test. Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed were the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh in the previous Test, with the former taking a five-wicket haul, to put India under a bit of pressure in their first innings in the early stages.