Hyderabad [India]: India will today take on Bangladesh in a one off Test at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here in Hyderabad.
For Bangladesh, it is a historic moment as they will be playing a Test match on the Indian soil for the first time, even though they have played eight tests against India, all on their soil.
India is number one in the Test Rankings while Bangladesh ranks number nine. The formidable Virat Kohli-led side would go into the match as overwhelming favourites and it is expected from them to maintain their supremacy against the Bangla Tigers, considering their impeccable form in the recent past.
India have not lost a Test at home since December 2012, when England trumped it. It last lost a Test anywhere in the world way back in August 2015, when Sri Lanka beat it in Galle.
India came back to win that series 2-1, and has since won 12 out of the 16 it has played, chiefly in India. In Rasvichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, it has the top two bowlers in the world. The batting line-up is an all-star affair, headlined by Kohli.
For the hosts, it will be more about maintaining momentum that they have acquired by winning seven out of eight matches against comparatively better sides like New Zealand and England in the recent past.
Welcoming the visitors, the Indian skipper had said they would enjoy the entire atmosphere as India is a great place to play cricket with great crowds.
Teams (from)—India: Virat Kohli (capt), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt, wk), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Subashis Roy, Taijul Islam. (ANI)