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Murali Vijay, KL Rahul India's prime openers with Abhinav Mukund as back-up: Anil Kumble

New Delhi: Indian cricket team coach Anil Kumble spoke to reporters ahead of the sole-Test against Bangladesh starting February 9. The former leg-spinner took on many important questions including the sitation of present Indian opening pairing.

Kumble said the opening slot was not a grave concern and call to Tamil Nadu batsman Abhinav Mukund was a back-up plan.

“Murali Vijay and KL Rahul played wonderfully in the last series. It’s just that we need a back-up opener just in case something happens on the day of the match. As far as we are concerned, the openers always had some issues in the last home series or leading up to the home series as well.

“Abhinav not just has the experience of playing at the international level but also has lots of runs in the domestic season. So, he is in good form and it’s a reward to what he has been able to achieve in the domestic season.”

Kumble, then addressed question of how India prepares to take on minnows Bangladesh who faced a stern test even in the warm-up game against India A.

“We would like to look at it as continuation from where we left against England. It’s been a good home season so far. We would like to take confidence from that and build on it. We still have few more Test matches after this so, it’s important that we take momentum and look at Bangladesh which has done really well against New Zealand in the recent past,” Kumble said at a press conference.

“I don’t think we need to do anything different against Bangladesh and also moving forward. We would like to measure ourselves with what we want to achieve and how we can achieve those goals and as long as we do that and continue to keep winning those moments and performances within our group, then I think the results will go our way,” he said.

“It’s a very improved side. They had a good outing in New Zealand although the results are different. We certainly respect the opposition. Bangladesh has some quality players, good all-rounders. So, it’s going to be an interesting contest,” he added.

(With PTI inputs)

Source: Zee News