The bilateral season has just begun. After the T20 World Cup got over, teams like Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka have already been in action. While the English Test team will begin their first overseas assignment under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum against a strong host Pakistani side, the first-choice Indian team are on their way to Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh have often met each other in white-ball formats, whether in multi-team tournaments or in short bilateral series and Test cricket has often taken the backseat. But, the World Test Championship (WTC) has allowed the rare fixture to take place for the first time since 2019 and first in 7 years in Bangladesh.
Team India can’t afford a single loss in remaining six matches in the current WTC cycle, if they have to keep their chances of qualification for the final alive. The losses in South Africa and England haven’t helped their cause and beating Bangladesh on their home soil won’t be easy, especially in the longest format. Yes, the conditions will be similar, but Bangladesh have beaten some of the top sides in the world on slow-low pitches, which are rank turners.
In the ODIs, the Men in Blue will still back themselves to beat the hosts but without Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, the gap between the two teams in Test matches reduces considerably. Bangladesh have let 10 of their Test players play in the tour game between India A and Bangladesh A, and it will be interesting to see, how many of them make it to the senior squad.
For India, the likes of Rohit, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel return after a break following the T20 World Cup. They will be joined by Shikhar Dhawan (only ODIs), Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant for these five games.
Here’s all you need to know about India’s tour of Bangladesh:
Full schedule
ODI series
| Match | Date | Venue |
| 1st ODI | December 4 | Shere Bangla Stadium, Dhaka |
| 2nd ODI | December 7 | Shere Bangla Stadium, Dhaka |
| 3rd ODI | December 10 | Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram |
Test series
| Match | Date | Venue |
| 1st Test | December 14-18 | Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram |
| 2nd Test | December 22-26 | Shere Bangla Stadium, Dhaka |
ODI squads
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (c), Litton Das, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Ebadot Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Nurul Hasan Sohan
Test squads
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat (wk), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav
Bangladesh are yet to announce their Test squad.
Match details and streaming
All the ODI matches will begin at 11:30 AM IST while the Tests will begin at 9 AM IST. The matches will have a live telecast on Sony Sports 5 channel on TV and the live streaming will be available on the SonyLiv app and website.
