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Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are back in Indian Test team. (Picture Credit: Sportzpics)
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant are back in the Indian Test team for the series opener against Bangladesh, which is scheduled to take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from September 19.
India will face Bangladesh in a two-match Test series in September 2024. The series opener is scheduled to take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from September 19 onwards, and Green Park Stadium in Kanpur will host the second match from September 27. The BCCI took to X on Sunday (September 9) to announce the 16-member squad for the first Test, in which Rishabh Pant was included for the first time since his life-threatening road accident on December 30, 2020.
Batting superstar Virat Kohli is also back in the red-ball team after missing the five-match series against England earlier this year, but there was no place for Devdutt Padikkal, who made an impressive debut for the Rohit Sharma-led side in Dharamsala against England.
Here’s a look at changes in Team India for the 1st Test against Bangladesh from the England series:
IN: Pant is back in the Indian Test team after a long gap of 21 months. The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batter last played a red-ball match for India against Bangladesh in Mirpur on December 25, 2022.
Kohli, who missed the five-match Test series against England due to the birth of his second child, is also available for the first Test against Bangladesh. KL Rahul was also named in the 16-member squad. The 32-year-old played in the first Test against England in Hyderabad but missed the remaining four matches due to injury.
In addition to them, RCB pacer Yash Dayal earned his maiden Test call-up. The left-arm pacer had picked up three wickets in the second inning for India B against India A in the Duleep Trophy 2024 match on Sunday.
OUT: Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Mukesh Kumar, and KS Bharat are dropped from India’s Test squad for the series opener against Bangladesh. Padikkal had scored 65 runs from 103 balls in the last red-ball match India played against England, whereas Patidar, Mukesh, and Bharat also got a game each in the India-England series.
Players retained: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep are 12 players who have managed to retain their place in the Test squad. Of these 12, only Axar and Akash Deep didn’t play in the last Test against England.
India’s squad for the 1st Test against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
