"Irrespective Of...": Ex-India Star's Pakistan Remark For Bangladesh Ahead Of Test Series

Bangladesh come into the Test series against India, starting on September 19 in Chennai, with high confidence, especially after securing a remarkable 2-0 win over Pakistan. But Parthiv Patel, the former India wicketkeeper-batter, believes facing the hosts' in their home conditions will require the Bangladesh batters to make big adjustments in playing against the SG ball, especially when it becomes old. Bangladesh play with the Kookaburra ball at home, and recently played with it in the Tests against Pakistan at Rawalpindi. But in India, they must get used to playing with SG balls, which take time to become soft.

"It is a huge difference in terms of how SG ball behaves and how a Kookaburra ball behaves. Usually, the Kookaburra ball swings early on and then has hard seam and becomes soft. On the other hand, SG ball becomes very difficult to play once it gets old. We have seen how well Indian bowlers bowl in getting that reverse swing.

"To me, Bangladesh batters will have to make a bigger adjustment in how to play against that old ball, as reverse swing will come into play at grounds like Chennai, where you have red soil or if you go to Kanpur, where it may be dry.

"Indian bowlers have exploited those conditions really well against England. So, for them, the biggest challenge would be how their middle order will be able to play reverse swing, because we saw what they did after being 26/6. But if that happens here, it's going to be very difficult for them to make a comeback," said Parthiv to IANS in a select virtual interaction.

He also expects a confident Bangladesh, captained by Najmul Hossain Shanto, to give a tough fight to India in the Test series. "See, irrespective of how Pakistan's cricket is, if you have won Two