IND vs BAN | Pedigreed India will not fear a journey into the unknown at Eden, reckons Harsha Bhogle
Harsha Bhogle believes that although there are many unknown factors heading into India's first D/N Test, the Indian team has the required pedigree to not fear whatever will come their way. The Indian bowlers are bowling better than they ever were and thus Bhogle feels that India are firm favourites.
India showed their might in Indore where they wrapped up the Test inside three days to hand Bangladesh an innings defeat. The bowlers are in fine form and the batsmen are putting the runs on the board and thus Harsha Bhogle feels that India have the resources to tackle whatever unknown conditions they get to face in the pink-ball Test. There are many questions according to Bhogle that will be answered in due course of time as the D/N Test goes on and the fast nature of the Eden gardens pitch is what excites him even more about what will be on offer to the bowlers.
"Eden Gardens by itself is not unknown, but what it will do at different parts of the day with a ball that nobody has seen is unknown. It is a fast track these days and it encourages a lot of pace and bounce but Will they leave grass on the pitch to ensure that the pink ball remains pink and it does not get discoloured? Will it move around a lot more? Will it play different in the afternoon, different at dusk and different under the lights? There are so many questions and we are making a journey into the unknown," Bhogle said in his pre-match analysis on Cricbuzz.
Bangladesh looked completely rattled after the first Test and it will be more challenging for them to stand up again as a team and compete. On the other hand, India are running high on confidence and Bhogle believes that that is where the main difference lies between the two teams.
" Neither team has faced this before and I feel that in such situations the more pedigreed team has the better opportunity. There are a lot more issues for Bangladesh than there are for India. Their openers are not giving them the starts and that means that the new ball is getting into the middle order. Their best batsmen are batting a bit too down the order and they only have those two new ball bowlers and I don't know whether they will play three seamers in Kolkata because that is just against their DNA because when you think Bangladesh, You think spin," he asserted.
The Indian team is firing in all departments off late and that has coincided with the poor form that Bangladesh is showing in Test cricket. The absence of their key senior players has hurt Bangladesh badly and inexperience is making them choke. Bhogle feels that it will be too tough a task for Bangladesh to challenge India in this D/N test.
"This Indian team is almost overflowing with confidence. The bowlers are bowling better than I have ever seen them bowl in all the years that I have watched the game. I think they are willing to back Jadeja, Saha, and Ashwin at 6,7 and 8 and the three fast bowlers are doing a fantastic job," Bhogle reckoned.
"I would like to see Bangladesh give India a tough fight because that is the fight that you want to see in test cricket. But I think that just the kind of form that the Indian top-order is in and the fast bowlers are bowling far better and one a good pitch in Indore they lost in three days in Indore. To be honest, I don't see them giving much of a fight to India in this first D/N Test match," he concluded.
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