IND vs BAN: 3 Reasons Why India Will Lose The Test Series

Bangladesh after winning the series in Pakistan [X]Bangladesh after winning the series in Pakistan [X]

India is all set to go to Bangladesh in a two-match test series. The series comes after Bangladesh’s historic win in Pakistan by a 2-0 margin.

In the current scenario, this Test series also plays a crucial role in the two teams' WTC journey. Currently, at the top of the WTC points table, India will be looking to continue its dominance with a convincing win in the series. On the other hand, Bangladesh’s recent exploits have seen them climb to the fourth spot in the table. They will be eager to create history in India and climb further up the ladder. 

Before the series starts, here are three reasons India might lose the series against Bangladesh. 

1. Bangladesh's Confidence

Bangladesh will be riding on confidence after clean-sweeping Pakistan 2-0 on their home soil. The Najmul Hossain Shanto-led unit will believe they can take down India too at home. The whole unit performed as a team in the Pakistan series, which will instil confidence in the captain and the entire unit that they can achieve anything at present. 

2. Form of Key Bangladeshi players

During the Pakistan series, we saw that key Bangladeshi players put up their hands in times of need and delivered for the team. Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Shadman Islam, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are key players in the Bangladesh batting line-up. Out of these players, Rahim was their top scorer for them in the Pakistan series, with 216 runs in three innings. Second on the list was Litton Das, with 194 runs in 2 innings, followed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shadman Islam. This shows that out of the six batters, four are carrying good form into the India series. 

Mehidy Hasan Miraz also delivered with the ball against Pakistan, finishing the tour with the most wickets (10) for Bangladesh. Besides Miraz, other bowlers like Hasan Mahmud (8) and Nahid Rana (6) also picked up wickets. Players like Shakib Al Hasan and Tashkin Ahmed did their bit with the ball. This shows that they are not depending on a single bowler to pick up wickets for them. The unit is in a decent rhythm, which can cause trouble for India. 

3. Lack of Red-ball Cricket For Key Indian Players

India last played a Test match in March 2024. It has been six months since then. In between, India won the T20 World Cup 2024, went to Zimbabwe for a T20I series, and then to Sri Lanka to play a T20I and ODI series. After that, they were in rest for about one and a half months. 

During this interval, some of the players in the squad, like - Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfraz Khan, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Akash Deep and Yash Dayal have played in the Duleep Trophy 2024. But players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jaspirt Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin have not played red-ball cricket for quite a long time. These players are the team's mainstays, and they might take time to adjust to the format, allowing the Bangladesh team the scope to take advantage of it.