 "India's Rishabh Pant plays his first Test match since December 2022. Image: PTI")
Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul made their Test return on Thursday as Bangladesh opted to bowl first in the first Test against India. India captain Rohit Sharma opted for three pacers – Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, and Mohammed Siraj – and two spinners – Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
This is Rishabh Pant’s first Test since his car accident in December 2022. Rahul returns to the Test team after January when he was forced to miss the England series midway due to an injury.
Virat Kohli is also making a Test return of sorts, having last played in the longest format in South Africa in January this year.
Explaining his decision to bowl first in Chennai, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said: “There’s moisture on the wicket and we want to make use of it. Pitch looks hard and there’s moisture. The first session will be very good for the seamers. The way we played that series (against Pakistan), we are confident. This is a new series, we’ll have to follow our processes. It’s a good mixture of experience and youth. We go with three seamers and two spin allrounders.”
Rohit said that he would have wanted to bowl first as well, but is confident his team will do well regardless.
“I would have done that as well (bowl first). Little soft, the pitch. It’s going to be challenging conditions. We have prepared well, so we should back our potential and play the way we know. Looking at the 10 Test matches, every match is important. But we want to focus on what lies in front of us. We came here a week back, we had a good prep leading up to this one. We feel confident,” he said at the toss.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh playing XI: Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana