Sports Desk:

Ahead of India’s first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai from 18 September, India’s legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has cautioned the host team about the visitors and gave the example of their recent historic series whitewash against Pakistan.

“By beating Pakistan in both the Test matches played in Pakistan, the Bangladesh team have shown that they are a force to reckon with. Even a couple of years back, when India toured Bangladesh, they were given a good fight by the Bangladeshis. Now with the series win against Pakistan under their belt, they are primed to take on India too,” Gavaskar wrote in his Mid-Day newspaper column.

He said Bangladesh have some fine players in their ranks and some new promising players who no longer have the awe of the opposition that seemed to characterize their early forays into the international game.

“Now, every team that play them (Bangladesh) know they can’t put their guard down as they could be knocked down as the Pakistanis found out. It will certainly be a series to look forward to,” Gavaskar added.

Bangladesh has a track record of pulling off surprises India and giving their opposition tough competition in the past: in the 2007 ODI World Cup, 2012 Asia Cup and the unexpected series defeats in 2015 and 2022.

In the Dhaka Test two years ago, Bangladesh nearly achieved their first-ever Test win against India before Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin secured the victory for the Indian side.

Currently, India top the WTC table with 74 points and a 68.52 percentage, narrowly ahead of second-placed Australia, while Bangladesh are in fourth place.