FATULLAH: Bangladesh believe they can beat India for the first time in their one-off Test starting here from Wednesday after encouraging results from the tour by Pakistan a month ago.

Bangladesh swept Pakistan for the first time in their One-day International series 3-0, then achieved a draw in the first Test, the first time Bangladesh hadn’t lost to Pakistan. The visitors won the second Test by 328 runs in Dhaka, but Bangladesh were invigorated by the results overall, and boosted in confidence.

“Playing good cricket against India will provide the evidence about our level in this format,” Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said. “So, we are looking forward to a good result in the Test.”

The pitch looked to be good for batting, so Mushfiqur was relying on his batsmen to score well. “They have two good spinners,” he said. “If our batsmen can show a good performance, I think we will earn a fairly good result.”

The last encounter between them was in the World Cup quarter-final in April, when India batsman Rohit Sharma received a marginal no-ball call in his favour off the bowling of Rubel Hossain.

Fans of Bangladesh, playing in their first quarterfinal, haven’t forgotten it.

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha, however, was reluctant to give it a thought. “As far as I am concerned, there’s no controversy,” he said. “Both teams played hard but they won the match.”

Hathurusingha also made it clear that they were playing to win the Test. Of the seven previous Tests between them, India won six, three by an innings, and the seventh was a rained-out draw.

“India are a very strong team, and we are behind in experience in Test and ODI cricket,” he said. “We are improving every day, playing good cricket. We will compete within our strength.”

Only three India players -- opener Murali Vijay, veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and fast bowler Ishant Sharma -- have played a Test in Bangladesh. This will be Virat Kohli’s first series as India Test captain after the stunning retirement of Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the series in Australia in December.

Kohli was keen to make a statement.

“I have some vision in my mind which I have discussed with the team,” he said. “We are all on the same page. It is pretty exciting for me to start as full-time Test captain, and hopefully it will be a positive start.

“It is a special moment for me tomorrow when I go out to toss. Something that I will probably cherish when I finish my career.”

He was not taking Bangladesh for granted.

“They (Bangladesh) can give fight,” he said. “Pakistan are a good team, too. They scored runs, took wickets. They are contributing in Test cricket.

“We cannot take any team lightly on our side. How will they react, that is their concern. We have to think about what we do. You have to bowl well to every batsman, no matter whether he is (A.B.) de Villiers or Shakib Al Hasan. You have to do your work.”

Teams (from):

BANGLADESH: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Nasir Hossain, Shuvagata Hom, Abul Hasan, Jubair Hossain, Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Shahid.

INDIA: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2015

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