Head coach Gautam Gambhir said India will respect every opposition, adding the home team will not be complacent against a visiting Bangladesh side in the upcoming two-match Test series. Gambhir congratulated Bangladesh for their historic Test series victory in Pakistan, but warned that India will be switched on and hungry from the first ball in the opening Test, starting September 19 in Chennai.
Bangladesh are heading into the Test series on the back of a 2-0 win against Pakistan. Bangladesh had never won a Test match against Pakistan, but they scripted history earlier in September, outclassing Shan Masood’s team twice in two weeks. Bangladesh rattled Pakistan not just with spin, but their pacers stepped up, showcasing that the bowling attack was not over-reliant on their experienced spinners, including Shakib Al Hasan.
Bangladesh began training at home for the India series a week ago and have had a couple of stints in Chennai after arriving in India earlier this month. Bangladesh have lost all three Tests they have played so far in India, but Najmul Hossain Shanto’s men will be high on confidence for the upcoming two-match series.
“I have been big believer that we don’t fear anyone but we respect everyone. It is the same with Bangladesh. We don’t look at the opposition and we play the game we know,” Gambhir said while addressing a press conference in Chennai on the eve of the first Test.
“I congratulate them (Bangladesh) for what they did in Pakistan. But this is a new series, and they are a quality side. We want to play good cricket. Yes, they have experience in Shakib (Al Hasan), Mushfiqur (Rahim) and Mehidy (Miraz) but we want to be switched on from ball one,” he added.
HOW ROHIT RESPONDED TO PRE-SERIES TALKS
Like Gambhir pointed out, Bangladesh will rely on their experienced trio of Shakib, Mushfiqur and Mehidy. Notably, Mushfiqur hit a match-winning hundred in Pakistan while Shakib is heading into the Test series in India on the back of a nine-wicket haul in the County Championship.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma also stressed that India will be switched on from the word go and played down the pre-series talks from the Bangladesh camp. In his inimitable way, Rohit responded to questions about the optimism in the Bangladesh camp.
“Every team wants to defeat India, let them have their fun, maze lene do unko,” Rohit said in the pre-series press conference. “We know how to play our cricket. England also said a lot of things when they came here, but we never focused on them. We just want to have our preparations in place. Every team that comes to India, we study them well, and that’s what we’ll focus on.”
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