Sunil Gavaskar cautions India ahead of Bangladesh series: ‘They are a force to reckon with…’ | Cricket News
India will play home Test series against Bangladesh starting on Thursday in Chennai. Despite India’s formidable home record former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar cautioned the Indian team about the visitors and gave the example of their recent horic series whitewash against Pakan.
“ beating Pakan in both the Test matches played in Pakan, the Bangladesh team have shown that they are a force to reckon with. Even a couple of years back, when India toured Bangladesh, they were given a good fight the Bangladeshis. Now with the series win against Pakan under their belt, they are primed to take on India too,” wrote Sunil Gavaskar in his Mid-Day Column.
“They have some fine players in their ranks and some new promising players who no longer have the awe of the opposition that seemed to characterise their early forays into the international game. Now, every team that play them know they can’t put their guard down as they could be knocked down as the Pakanis found out. It will certainly be a series to look forward to,” he added.
Gavaskar opined that it would have been better for star players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to have participated in the Duleep Trophy. He would reason that lack of game time in the mid-thirties might weaken the “muscle memory” of players if they don’t play high standards for prolonged periods.
“The selectors have not picked the skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the Duleep Trophy so they will most likely go into the Bangladesh Test series without much match practice. Once a player hits the mid-thirties in any sport, then regular competition will help him maintain the high standards he has set,” Gavaskar said.
Rohit last played a red-ball game in the final Test against England in Dharmshala earlier this year whereas Kohli last appeared in the format for India in the New Year Test at Cape Town in South Africa. “When there’s a longish gap then the muscle memory weakens somewhat and to get back to the high standards from earlier is not easy,” Gavaskar added.
