Team India will be in action again from Sep 19th in Chennai. The Bangladesh cricket team is scheduled to tour India to play two Test matches and three T20 Internationals. The contests will provide a good opportunity to India’s young players to cement their place in the side and show their prowess before the Border-Gavaskar trophy against Australia which is to be played later this year. The Test series against Bangladesh will form part of the 2023-2025 cycle of the World Test championships.
India’s youth brigade consisting of Shubman Gill (25), Yashasvi Jaiswal (22), Sarfaraz Khan (26) and Dhruv Jurel (23) have an ideal platform to showcase their skills and to improve their career statistics. By picking these young players in the team, the selectors have shown wisdom and far-sighted vision.
Former captain Saurav Ganguly has spoken highly about the prospects of Akash Deep, the 27 year old fast bowler from Bihar who has been doing well recently. Akash Deep has played for Bengal so Ganguly has seen his game from close quarters on many occasions. According to Ganguly, Akash Deep is the most outstanding young fast bowler in India now. The story of his rise to prominence is a fascinating one.
Years of struggle
Akash who hails from Sasaram in Bihar, was dissuaded from playing cricket by his father. The father felt that there was no hope for Akash in cricket and he should focus more on his books and studies.
But Akash Deep went away to Durgapur in West Bengal, in 2010 on the pretext of finding a job but with the real intention of playing cricket in Bengal. There he found support from his uncle and joined a local cricket academy. But soon after this, Akash was struck by family tragedies, when he lost his father and older brother within the space of two months. That forced him to leave the game for three years and seek a livelihood.
After returning to cricket, Akash Deep made it to the Bengal Under-23 side in 2019 and the same year he made his senior debut for Bengal. In his second first-class game, Akash bagged six wickets against Gujarat and picked up 35 wickets in the season at an average of 18.02. Now he is making waves and Ganguly is sure that he will be a huge success soon.
Opportunity for Sarfaraz
Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan has a great chance to prove his worth in the series against Bangladesh. He is a hard hitting batter who can demolish any bowling attack when he is in form. Sarfaraz made his debut in the 3rd Test match between India and England at Rajkot earlier this year. He became the fourth Indian cricketer to score two fifties in his debut match. A century or two against Bangladesh will consolidate his position in the team.
Sarfaraz was lucky to have a father (Naushad Khan) who is a cricket coach. As soon as the father saw his ability, the little boy was enrolled into a coaching system. A synthetic pitch was laid beside his house for practice. In fact both Sarfaraz and his brother Musheer have profited greatly from the coaching of their father.
In the series against Bangladesh, a lot of runs are also expected from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. India will have the services of two wicket keepers namely Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant. Yash Dayal is another player who will be very likely to do well in the coming series. If the pitch takes spin, Ravi Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav can turn out to be match winners.
India is favourite
So India seems to be the hot favourite to win the series but Bangladesh too cannot be ruled out. Their confidence will be high after a remarkable series victory over Pakistan recently. The visiting team has a good blend of youth and experience.
Although Bangladesh has never beaten India in a Test series, their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is very eager to write a new script. He wants his players to retain the self belief that helped them to register a historic victory over Pakistan recently. If the visitors are able to play at their best level, then an exciting series lies ahead for cricket fans of India and Bangladesh.
The teams :
(India): Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal, Akash Deep, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, K.L.Rahul, Mohd. Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav.
(Bangladesh): Najmul Hossain Shanto, Khaled Ahmed, Taksin Ahmed, Jaker Ali Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Zakir Hasan, Nayeem Hassan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mominul Haque, Shadman Islam, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nahid Rana.
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