The first Test of the two-match series between India and Bangladesh, which is scheduled to take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, is set to start on Thursday (September 19). Former India captain Virat Kohli, who missed the last red-ball series played against England due to the birth of his second child, is available for the series opener, and there will be high expectations from him after a below-par show by his standards in the T20 World Cup 2024 and ODI series against Sri Lanka last month.
Kohli, who won the Orange Cap in IPL 2024 and also finished as the leading run scorer in the ODI World Cup last year, will be a key batter for India along with captain Rohit Sharma.
Ahead of the start of the India-Bangladesh series, here’s a look at how these two have performed against Bangladesh in Tests played so far:
Virat Kohli: 35-year-old Kohli, who is India’s most successful captain in Test cricket’s history, has played six matches against Bangladesh so far and has 437 runs to his name. Of those six Tests, he played three on Indian soil and three in Bangladesh. In the matches played in front of home fans, Kohli scored a total of 378 runs in four innings, whereas in Bangladesh he has only managed 59 runs in five innings.
Kohli’s best score in Tests against the Asian team is 204 runs, which he scored from 246 balls in the match played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad from February 9 to 13 in 2017. In the first-ever Pink Ball Day-Night Test played on Indian soil in November 2019, Kohli smashed 136 runs against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens and helped India win the match by an innings and 46 runs inside three days.
In addition to his batting, Kohli has led India in four Tests against Bangladesh and managed to win three of them.
Rohit Sharma: Rohit will become the seventh player to lead India in a Test match against Bangladesh when the two sides line up against each other in Chennai on Thursday. The 37-year-old opener, who is India’s leading run scorer in the World Test Championship, has played only three Tests against Bangladesh so far, in which he has managed to score 33 runs. He scored six runs each in the first two Tests played at Fatullah and Indore in June 2015 and November 2019, respectively, and amassed a total of 21 runs in his last match played at Eden Gardens (November 22-24, 2019).
Rohit was set to lead India in the two-match Test series in December 2022, but he missed the assignment due to a finger injury.
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