This is Bangladesh’s best Test team in very long time: Bhogle

Indian cricket commentator and analyst Harsha Bhogle dubbed the 16-man Bangladesh squad for the two-Test series against India as the best squad he has seen from the country in a long time and hoped the Tigers would put up a strong fight against the hosts this time around.

"I genuinely believe this is the best Test team I have seen from them [Bangladesh] for a very, very long time," Bhogle said in a video posted on his Youtube channel today.

Bhogle spoke highly of Bangladesh pace attack and also focused on Bangladesh's batting depth and flexibility.

"No. 1 they've got pace. Nahid Rana is one of the most exciting bowlers to have emerged out of Bangladesh in recent times. Every time you see genuine pace, there's something about it, you go wow. We saw him getting a lot of good Pakistan batters hopping.

"Hasan Mahmud picked up wickets there and this is another opportunity. I wish not, but maybe a last opportunity for Taskin [Ahmed] to come here and show everyone why so many of us rated him highly.

"They've got three genuine quicks but the reason I rate them even higher is because if you look at that top eight, they've got two people who can keep wickets there, both of whom good enough to play purely as batters in this lineup and two accomplished spin bowling allrounders. Shakib [Al Hasan], of course, and increasingly every time you see him he looks better, I'm talking about Mehedi Miraz.

"If you look at their 5, 6, 7, 8, Mushfiqur, Shakib, Liton Das and Miraz, they all are batting one number below where they can and that's that's a general test you do when you look at a batting lineup, are players batting higher than they should or are players batting lower than they can. In this Bangladesh lineup, they're all batting lower than they can, which is a very good indicator of batting depth and batting strength."

Bhogle also felt that Liton and Miraz are ready to step up and play a more prominent role for the team.

"I get the feeling watching them that both Liton and Mehedi Miraz are ready now to step into much bigger boots. I don't know how much longer Shakib is going to play. I get the feeling he's far far closer to the end than he is to the start.

"I think he's coming to the end, I would suspect so is Mushfiqur [Rahim] though he is batting as well as ever and he's a spunky player. But should the two of them move on, I think in Liton and Mehedi they have the right replacements."

But for Bangladesh to really give India a fight in the two-Test series, starting in Chennai on September 19, Bhogle felt that top four had to score runs and be prepared for a trial by pace from India.

"They need more runs from the top, especially from two players who have been good Test match players for them in the past. The captain Najmul Shanto is a good player but a little short of runs at the moment and Mominul [Haque], who held up that batting for such a long time.

"Unless the top four can give them runs, it always puts pressure on 5 to 8 and that'll be the big test for Bangladesh especially because I don't think they will get the kind of pitches that they're used to getting in Bangladesh.

"India will not give them square turners because that will mean that the difference between the two sides gets minimized. You have Shakib, you have Taijul Islam, you have Mehedi Hasan, three good quality finger spinners. India's not going to take the chance, especially after what happened in the Test match in Bangladesh.

"So don't be surprised if there is a baptism by fire and pace if India unleash Bumrah and Siraj and maybe Akashdeep who's got that extra pace or maybe the left hander in Yash Dayal. But there will be a lot of pace coming Bangladesh's way and that will be their test.

Even though Bhogle had a lot of positive stuff to say about the Bangladesh squad, he remained adamant that India would start the series as 'overwhelmingly favourites'.

"India start favorites, I would go so far as to say India start overwhelming favorites. But I'd like to see a little bit of fight from Bangladesh. If they can provide that fight, it'll make for a good two-Test series."