Just less than eight months ago, when England visited India for a five-match Test series, armed with its newfangled ‘Bazball’ rhetoric, the air was humming with how the host’s spinners would face a litmus test in trying to contain an aggressive brand of cricket and maintain their dominance at home. But when India takes on Bangladesh in the first Test at the M.A. Chidambaram from Thursday, the tables will turn, and the exigencies of the longest format will be more fundamental as the host batters gear up for a trial by spin posed by a side riding high on a morale-boosting coup in Pakistan.
A 2-0 historic win against India’s northern neighbour propelled the Tigers to only their third series triumph away from home comforts and the fourth position on the World Test Championship (WTC) standings, which India leads. To consolidate that dominance, Rohit Sharma’s men will need to make the most of the five upcoming Tests at home (two against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand) before they face a sterner test of keeping Australia at bay in their backyard later in the year.
While a few years ago, Indian batters wouldn’t have fretted much over the prospect of facing visiting spinners, recent performances certainly ring alarm bells. From averaging 119.8 at home against spinners in 2019, the top-six now averages 48.4 in 2024, still an improvement on a dismal 25.9 from the previous year. Moreover, the top six batters are over two times more susceptible to spin bowling in home Tests compared to 2019, when they lost a wicket every 160 balls, compared to 56 in 2023 and 76 in 2024.
The struggles were glaring during India’s recent white-ball tour to Sri Lanka where the Men in Blue lost 27 wickets to spin in the 2-0 ODI series defeat. However, head coach Gautam Gambhir, who oversaw that loss and a 3-0 win in the T20I leg on his first assignment with the team, has backed his batters to come good. “I still believe that this batting lineup has so much quality that we can play any opposition, any bowling line-up, any spin attack in any conditions,” he said on match eve, while adding that facing spin in limited-overs cricket and Tests was a different ball game. “In one-day cricket, you don’t get as much time to defend. Test cricket gives you the time to defend and make the bowler bowl according to your strengths,” he remarked.
Gambhir will also take confidence from a host of middle-order mainstays returning to the fold and India fielding a near full-strength side at home for the first time since March 2023. While Virat Kohli missed the five-match series against England this year as he was on paternity leave, Rahul was ruled out after the first Test due to injury. The duo returns alongside Rishabh Pant, set to don the gloves in Tests for the first time since a horrific car crash in December 2022. The trio will be expected to prop up the batting with their ability against spin and showed no sign of rust over four practice sessions held here in scorching conditions since Friday.
With skipper Rohit, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill comprising the top-order, India has ample resources to tackle Bangladesh’s four-pronged spin attack, helmed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz and veteran Shakib Al Hasan, who were key architects of the miracle in Rawalpindi. Perhaps in anticipation of that threat, coupled with a near-defeat at Mirpur against the same opposition in late 2022, the host has rolled out a red-soil wicket here that is expected to aid the pacers with its bounce and carry. The Indians conducted their open nets sessions on the red-soil pitch adjacent to the main square on all four practice days, while the visitors preferred to get their preparations underway on the black-soil surface. All four pacers in the Indian squad had a bowl ahead of the match, with Jasprit Bumrah tormenting Yashasvi Jaiswal and even troubling Kohli with his thunderbolts. While Siraj is likely to form a two-man pace attack with Bumrah, either Akash Deep or still uncapped left-armer Yash Dayal could slot in as the third pacer.
India, however, will be wary of not discounting the role of spinners too much and it would do well to remember the last time it rolled out a benign pitch here, Joe Root amassed a double-century in the first innings, setting up England’s massive 227-run win in 2021 – one of India’s only four defeats at home in the past decade. With the sun beating down and temperatures soaring, it won’t be too long before the pitch cracks up and the spinners come into play, something that will keep Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel on their toes for a third spinner’s spot – alongside the well-oiled Ravichandran Ashwin-Ravindra Jadeja duo.
Notwithstanding playing conditions, Bangladesh will know India will pose a much stiffer challenge than Pakistan and it will require more than a wave of momentum and good vibes to upset a host as indomitable. Bangladesh is yet to bowl India out in a Test in India and has managed to pick just 25 wickets across three Tests. In addition to spinners Mehidy, Shakib and Taijul Islam, Bangladesh has young crop of pacers that includes Hasan Mahmud and the lanky and fiery Nahid Rana, who impressed in adverse conditions on the recent tour to Pakistan. The Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side can perhaps dare to believe that a well-rounded side could pick 20 wickets this time around. But India also poses a dual threat. While Ashwin’s off-spin could be a handful for a side that has stacked five left-handers in its top-six, the Indian pacers could wreak havoc, like the trio of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav did in 2019 when Bangladesh last visited, picking 33 wickets between them in two Tests.
The need for a rescue act from veteran Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das or a rearguard from Miraz could be imminent, if not inevitable. A Test series these days, strewn as it is between the wide swathes of franchise cricket and bilateral white-ball formalities, is a healthy exercise for jogging one’s memory. Bangladesh last toured India for a Test series before most of the world had heard of the scourge of Covid-19, Chennai last hosted a Test while India was in its clutches and out-of-favour Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer were India’s top-scorers the last time the two sides met in the format. With an Indian side in transition, veterans in their mid-thirties and some even beyond it, perhaps this series too assume the significance of a reference point for a stream nostalgia.
