IND vs BAN 2024: 'I am sure Rohit won't..' - Suresh Raina warns India ahead of Bangladesh Test

Add as a preferred source on Google

Former India player Suresh Raina believes Rohit Sharma won't take Bangladesh lightly ahead of the two-match Test series.

The upcoming encounter starts on September 19 in Chennai and India will be aiming to continue their dominance in this World Test Championship cycle.

Although India have been historically dominant over Bangladesh, the visitors will be buoyed after their scintillating outing against Pakistan, where they won the series 2-0 on Pakistan soil.

Suresh Raina, who will be part of the Legends League Cricket, attended a press conference for the tournament and shared his thoughts on the series. When asked about how India must assess Bangladesh, the former player asserts that the Indian captain won't take the visitors lightly.

"I think when you play Test matches, you're not playing against the team, you're playing session by session. You're playing third day, fourth day, fifth day. And Bangladesh has done really well against Pakistan. The best thing the Indian captain did, Rohit Sharma, that they went to Chennai. It's going to be very similar weather because it's very humid. And then they [will] come to Kanpur, it's going to be a little bit of a change," Raina said.

The former India player believes tackling the spin duo of the Tigers will be crucial for India but also has high hopes for the batting variance in the Indian team.

"And they have very good spinners. I think it's going to be very, very interesting how they bat against Mehidy Hasan and whoever plays with Sakib. But we have that strength, lefty-righty combination, there are a lot of them. But I'm sure Rohit won't take them lightly. Because Bangladesh and India have always played strong cricket over the years," Raina added.

This will be Gautam Gambhir's first Test series in charge, but along with that, the upcoming encounter also marks the return of Rishabh Pant to the Test fold for the first time since his accident in 2022. And Raina has seen enough of the southpaw in the Duleep Trophy and has been impressed with his performance.

"I think he is looking very good. He scored a fifty in the Duleep Trophy and he is keeping very well," the former India player continued.

It will be a litmus Test for the Tigers who will be taking on India for the 14th time in Test cricket. Over the years, India have won 11 Test matches while two matches ended in a stalemate between these two nations.