India vs Bangladesh: Chennai pitch details revealed for 1st Test

In a major development, the details of the pitch that will be on offer in the first Test between the India National Cricket Team and the Bangladesh National Cricket Team have been revealed.

India are set to host Bangladesh for the first time in a Test series since the historic pink-ball Test in November 2019. The first Test will be played from September 19 in Chennai, and the second Test will be played from September 27 in Kanpur.

Bangladesh will be entering into the series with a lot of confidence from their recent dominance on the Pakistan tour. So far, the Bangla Tigers have not won any Test match against India in the 13 encounters and would be aiming to change that this time around.

Meanwhile, according to a report in the Indian Express, the team management has decided to play the first Test in Chennai on a red-soil pitch.

This decision has been made because the Bangla Tigers are used to playing on black soil pitches at home. Notably, the red-soil tracks are faster, offer more bounce, and favor pacers and spinners, especially as the match progresses and the pitch deteriorates.

On the other hand, black-soil pitches retain moisture and are slower with lower bounce, and the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side have been playing on those kinds of tracks at home.

Making full use of home advantage, the plans have been made to roll out a pitch that predominantly has red-soil content.

Reportedly, the ground staff at the Chennai stadium covered the pitch with good grass cover as early as 11.30 am to prevent it from breaking. Notably, this would not be the first time that India will use this tactic as in the 2019 series as well; they produced pace-friendly tracks for the Bangladesh series, and the home team's spinners bagged just 5 wickets.

Morne Morkel Joins Team India's Practice Session Ahead Of Test Series

The newly-appointed bowling coach of the side - Morne Morkel - also linked up with the squad in Chennai ahead of the Test series. As per the same report, he was seen spending more time with the pace bowlers.

Notably, the upcoming two Test matches will be the first assignment of Morne Morkel with the Men In Blue and he will soon have a one-on-one introductory session with all the bowlers.

Talking about the practice session of the Rohit Sharma & Co., it began at 9.30 am and extended till 3 pm with all the players involved. Although the red-soil pitch will be deployed, Indian batters like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill practiced on the black-soil pitch against spinners, reported Indian Express.

As the Men In Blue will face a lot of left-arm spin against Bangladesh and New Zealand, they decided to prepare accordingly, and other than Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, they called S Ajith Ram, M Siddharth and P Vignesh to the nets. Among the off-spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin was joined by Lakshay Jain and Himanshu Singh.

Also, among the pacers, the BCCI had called Arpit Guleria, Gurnoon Brar, Yudhvir Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Simarjeet Singh, and Gurjapneet Singh to help the batters prepare in the nets.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already unveiled the squad for the first Test with Rishabh Pant making his comeback and Yash Dayal receiving his maiden Test call-up.