India will face Bangladesh in a two-match Test series at home. The series opener is scheduled to take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from September 19. India is expected to field a strong side against Bangladesh, which has recently secured a famous series win over Pakistan by winning both the red-ball matches played at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
Captain Rohit Sharma will open the innings for India in the series opener along with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was in red-hot form for the Indian team during the five-match Test series played against England earlier this year. In nine innings of five Tests against England, Jaiswal amassed a total of 712 runs to become only the second Indian cricketer in history to score 700+ runs in a Test series.
Gill, who scored a century in the first innings of the last Test India played against England in Dharamsala, is expected to retain his No. 3 position, and batting superstar Virat Kohli will bat at his usual No. 4 position.
In the last Test against England, Sarfaraz Khan batted at No. 5 for India, but there’s a high possibility that he will have to make way for KL Rahul in the playing XI for the Chennai Test. Rahul, whose last red-ball match for India was against England in January 2024, finished as the top scorer for India A in both innings of the Duleep Trophy match played against India B in Bengaluru.
Rishabh Pant is back in the Test squad after 21 months, and he is likely to get preferred over Dhruv Jurel as wicketkeeper-batter for the first Test against Bangladesh.
R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are almost certain to play in the first Test, but it will be interesting to see who out of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel finds a place in the playing XI. Kuldeep picked up a five-wicket haul for India in his last Test, whereas Axar has impressed with his all-round show in the Duleep Trophy match for India D.
Jasprit Bumrah will lead India’s pace attack, and Mohammed Siraj is expected to be his first-choice pace bowling partner over the likes of Akash Deep and Yash Dayal.
India’s strongest playing XI for the 1st Test against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
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