Hosts Bangladesh will look to end the year on a high when they take on visitors India in the second and final Test match, starting at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Thursday.
Bangladesh are 1-0 behind in the series, having lost convincingly chasing 513 runs in the first Test in Chittagong last week, will at least hunt a draw in the game, if not a win, to avoid a series whitewash.
They had started the year with a historic Test win in New Zealand, but went on to lose the remaining games in the format.
Bangladesh this year played nine Tests and won only once, drew one game against Sri Lanka and lost the other seven.
The home side have the daunting task of tackling the Indian bowling attack on Mirpur wicket that is expected to be traditional – slow and low.
The likes of Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim will be expected to keep the hosts out of trouble with the willow, while young Zakir Hasan and Nazmul Hossain Shanto would be eager to repeat their effort from the second innings of the Chittagong game.
Zakir was the talk of the country's cricketing fraternity following his 100-run innings, that too on debut, while Shanto scored 67 amid criticism for his below-par performance with the bat.
Shakib also played a part, posting 84 runs on the board.
While Shakib is back as a bowler following rib cage pain, Bangladesh will miss the services of fast bowler Ebadot Hossain, who is unarguably the best Test bowler for the side at this moment.
Ebadot also couldn't bowl in the second innings of the first Test due to his side strain.
Taskin Ahmed will replace him.
Bangladesh have not won a Test at home since February 2020, and never beaten India anywhere in 12 matches in this format.
They drew twice, but on both occasions rain had intervened.
India will walk into the game as the favorites to sweep the series.
The steely determination will be there as they are bidding to win and take one more step to reaching a second consecutive World Test Championship Final.
The bad news however, is that the tourists will might miss out on makeshift captain KL Rahul after he took a blow to the hand while batting in the nets on the eve of the match.
India batting coach Vikram Rathour suggested Rahul hadn't suffered a serious injury, but that there is a chance he may not be fit to play, leaving India without both their first-choice openers – regular skipper Rohit Sharma has already been ruled out.
If Rahul misses the Test match, Abhimanyu Easwaran could come in for his Test debut, with Cheteshwar Pujara taking over the captaincy reigns.
Pujara played two good knocks while Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin also did their job with the bat.
Kuldeep Yadav had a good all-round outing, Mohammed Siraj was critical in the first innings and Axar Patel picked up key wickets in the second innings.
The match, starting at 9:30am, will be aired live on Gazi Television and T Sports.
Bangladesh XI [Probable]:
Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Zakir Hasan, Yasir Ali, Liton Das, Shakib al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Khaled Ahmed