The Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee are likely to announce the India Test squad for the upcoming series against Bangladesh after the end of the first round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy, which begins in Bengaluru and Anantapur on Thursday. India will play two matches against Bangladesh, starting September 19, and will be their first Test series since beating England at home at the start of the year.
Most of the India regulars, barring captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, have been named for the domestic red-ball tournament, which will play a major role in helping the selectors pick the final 15 for the Bangladesh Test series. The tournament, hence, will see the likes of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Mukesh Kumar, Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh and KS Bharat, among others in action.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, BCCI will name the squad for the two-match series after the end of round one of the Duleep Trophy, which will be played from September 5 to 8 in Bengaluru and Anantapur. The selected players will later attend a training camp in Chennai on September 12 ahead of the start of the Bangladesh series.
India’s long Test season awaits
The Bangladesh Test series will mark the beginning of India’s long Test season as part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. The series against the Najmul Shanto-led squad, who on Tuesday scripted a historic 2-0 sweep against Pakistan, their fourth Test series whitewash and second away from home, will be played in Chepauk and Kanpur respectively, followed by a three-match T20I series.
Later in October, India will play three Tests at home against New Zealand, before travelling to South Africa for five white-ball matches. The Rohit Sharma-led side will eventually end the calendar year with a five-match Border-Gavaskar series in Australia.
India currently stand top of the WTC points table with 68.52 percentage points and could seal their place in the WTC final for the third straight time if they can maintain their unbeaten record at home in the series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
