Key Players for India:

Mayank Agarwal

‘       Mayank has been in irresistible form for Team India at home. Image: BCCI

He had been knocking on the doors of Test cricket for so long but when nobody would answer, Mayank decided to break it down and lock himself in,’ narrated Harsha Bhogle after Mayank timed his innings to yet another century in Test cricket. But he did not just stop there. Having reached his century, Mayank pressed his foot on the accelerator and decided to wreck the Bangladeshi bowling order beyond recognition and so he went on casually got his double century. The carnage stopped only when Mehidy Hasan managed to thwart him but not before he had scored 243 runs to put the game beyond Bangladesh.

Mayank has been absolutely stellar since his revelation in the Test side and has, very soon, become a very reliable opener at the top. He could go on to mark yet another memorable performance at the mythical Eden Gardens.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit has adapted to his new role as Test opener seamlessly and was on scintillating form against South Africa where he started this new venture. He was named Player of the Series for his majestic innings, having scored 529 runs from 4 innings registering an average of 132.25.

Despite being dismissed for cheap in the first Test in Indore where he could only chalk up six runs on the board, Rohit has had some legendary performances at Eden Gardens and this could be an ominous foreboding for Bangladesh.

Mohammad Shami

Mohammed Shami has been the pick of the lot amongst the Indian bowlers. Image: BCCI

Shami recently broke into the top 10 of the ICC World Test rankings among bowlers and Dale Steyn also called him as the best pace bowler in the world ahead of the likes of Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada. Shami has been justifying all those plaudits with his spells with the ball as he leads the fearsome Indian pace department against Bangladesh. He managed seven wickets in the first Test and will be out for blood once again given how the second Test will be played at his home in Kolkata.

Key factors that will decide the game:

Pink ball to provide more seam assistance

        The bowlers will be getting a lot of help with their seam. Image: BCCI

The seam of the pink ball lasts longer than the red ball and this will get the Indian fast bowlers licking their lips. India beats Bangladesh in the quality of seamers and the trio of Shami, Ishant and Umesh has been on a red-hot form. The bowlers will also need to adapt to the lack of reverse-swing as the game progresses, however, but the seam factor could prove to be important to decide the match.

Home support

The first four days of the Eden Gardens have been sold out which is a rare occurrence for a Test match. The people of Kolkata are passionate about their sports and Eden is expected to play a wonderful 12^th man in order to cheer the Indian team to victory in the historic Pink Ball Test.

Other details:

Expected Playing XI:

Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(C), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha(Wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Venue and timings:

Date: 22^nd to 26^th November

Time: 1:00 PM IST

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

The match will be broadcast across Star’s multiple channels and can also be streamed live on Hotstar.