Bangladesh are touring India for a bilateral series for only the third time overall, and the first time since 2019. They recently achieved their biggest Test success so far, beating Pakistan 2-0 in Pakistan. Here are five Bangladesh players to watch out for in the two-match Test series in India.
Najmul Hossain Shanto
Bangladesh captain Shanto led them to the 2-0 Test series win against Pakistan, their first overseas triumph in 15 years. He showed excellent leadership skills during the tour, especially while marshalling his fast-bowling attack. The 26-year-old is also seen as a bridge between Bangladesh's seniors and the youth.
The BCB had appointed him as captain in November last year after their poor World Cup campaign in India. Shanto responded with a century in Sylhet, where they beat New Zealand for the first time at home. Shanto hasn't been in great form since March this year but remains the BCB's first-choice captain because of his patience and battle-hardened nature.
Nahid Rana
Nahid Rana is the most talked about fast bowler in Bangladesh right now. He has maintained an average speed of roughly 145kph across his three Test appearances so far and when on song, he has touched 150kph too. Rana took four wickets in the second innings in the second Test against Pakistan, which included a spell of three wickets in his first three overs, including that of Babar Azam and the in-form Saud Shakeel.
Rana is from Chapai Nawabganj, a district on Bangladesh's northwestern border with India. His Test debut came less than five years after he had started playing with a cricket ball. After being fast-tracked into the first-class competition, he took 32 wickets in the 2022-23 season, which culminated in a Test debut earlier this year.
Shadman Islam
The left-handed opener set the tone for Bangladesh's Test series win in Pakistan with a patient 93 in the first Test in Rawalpindi. Shadman soaked up the pressure created by the Shaheen Afridi-led pace attack, and then opened up when he was batting with Mushfiqur Rahim. Shadman missed out on his second Test hundred when he was dismissed in the nineties, but he continued to make meaningful contributions through the series.
Shadman and Zakir Hasan, the Bangladesh opening pair, laid the foundation for their success in Pakistan. Shadman himself was making a comeback in the Test side after two years. He was a last-minute replacement for Mahmudul Hasan Joy, one of the regular openers who got injured before the first Test. Shadman is now the incumbent although he will still be fighting for his Test spot.
Hasan Mahmud
Mahmud, 24, took his maiden five-wicket in the second match against Pakistan, helping Bangladesh produce the first instance of their fast bowlers taking all ten wickets in an innings in Test cricket. Mahmud bowls at an average speed of 135kph and is also capable of getting the ball to swing and seam. He predominantly played white-ball cricket before he was handed a Test debut against Sri Lanka earlier this year. Mahmud was a star performer in Pakistan, making early inroads with the new ball before exerting more pressure on the batters with the old one. He also showed character with the bat, lasting for two hours in a crucial eighth-wicket partnership with Litton Das in the second Test.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz
Indian audiences will be more familiar with Mehidy, who has played in each of Bangladesh's three Tests in India apart from being one of the best performers in the 2023 ODI World Cup in the country. Before that, he had played two stellar knocks against India in the bilateral ODI series in Bangladesh in 2022. More recently, he was the Player of the Series in Pakistan, where he took ten wickets, including a five-wicket haul, and scored two backs-to-the-wall fifties. Mehidy added 165 runs for the seventh wicket with Litton after Bangladesh slipped to 26 for 6 in the second Test. In the first, he added 196 runs for the seventh wicket with Mushfiqur, taking Bangladesh past 500. Mehidy is a clutch player who is slowly coming out of Shakib Al Hasan's shadow.