IND vs BAN: India Playing XI vs Bangladesh- 1st Test

Last Update on: December 14th, 2022 at 05:36 am

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IND vs BAN: India Playing XI vs Bangladesh- 1st Test. After a rare ODI series win against India, Bangladesh is all geared up to take the Test challenge in the 2 Tests series. The first Test will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram, between 14-18 December from 9:30 am onwards.

The visitors will look forward to keeping their unbeaten record against Bangladesh in the Tests. After 11 matches between the sides in the longest format, the visitors are yet to lose a Test match against Bangladesh. The visitors have won 9 Tests and drawn 2 against Bangladesh.

Both teams will be playing the longest format against each other after a gap of 3 years. The last time both teams played a day and night Test was at Eden Gardens in 2019. India won the Test by an innings and 46 runs. Batting first, Bangladesh were restricted to 106 after a five-for from Ishant Sharma. Virat Kohli’s 136 led India to declare the innings on 347 for the loss of 9 wickets. Umesh Yadav took 5 wickets in the second innings to register an easy victory for India.

India are currently placed fourth in the ICC Test Championship points table, with 6 wins, 4 losses, and 2 draws. They must win 5 of their last 6 Tests to qualify for the Final. On the other hand, Bangladesh are at the bottom of the table with just 1 win in 10 Tests of this cycle. The hosts have lost 4 of their last 5 Tests and have drawn one.

India have played 2 Tests here, and they have won 1 match and drew the next. Bangladesh have played 22 Tests at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium and they have won just 2 matches while losing 13 matches. The remaining 7 matches ended in a draw.

India last played a Test in the month of July against England (the 5th rescheduled Test). It will be a challenge for skipper KL Rahul to adjust his team to the 5-day format in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami. He will open the innings with Shubman Gill. Both openers are inexperienced having not played against Bangladesh.

KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant. (Photo: Twitter)

While KL Rahul has played just 2 Tests this year, Shubman Gill has been part of just one. All eyes will be glued to vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara, who had a mind-blowing county stint this year for Sussex. Cheteshwar Pujara scored 1094 runs in 8 matches at an average of 109.40 with 3 double hundreds and 2 hundred.

Virat Kohli will be eager to take the guard in the middle to keep his form running. After finishing as the Asia Cup’s second leading run-scorer, T20 World Cup’s leading run scorer, Virat Kohli scored a century in the last ODI against Bangladesh. Virat Kohli averaged above 78 against Bangladesh and has 2 centuries in the 5 innings.

Surprisingly, his last century of this format came against Bangladesh three years ago. Shreyas Iyer will likely play with Rishabh Pant in the middle order. The latter has been the visitors leading run scorer of this ICC Test Championship 2021-23 cycle. Rishabh Pant has 636 runs in 8 Tests at an average of 45.43.

Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin. Image-Twitter

The visitors will use Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur as pacers. Though the trio hasn’t played much together, they will still pose a threat to the weak Bangladeshi side. Shardul Thakur has 11 wickets in 3 Tests played this year, including a career-best of 7 for 61. Umesh Yadav had taken 8 wickets in the last test played against Bangladesh.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel will be added as the spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin will have a huge responsibility on his shoulder in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami – India’s leading wicket-takers of the ICC WTC besides injured spinner Ravindra Jadeja. Team India would have to make is to choose one between Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur.

Navdeep Saini, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Jaydev Unadkat and Saurabh Kumar have been added to the Indian Test squad for the Bangladesh series, the BCCI confirmed on Sunday (December 11).

India made a roaring comeback in the third and final ODI by winning the match by 227 runs after losing the first two ODIs narrowly by 1 wicket and 5 runs respectively. Ishan Kishan’s maiden double ton and Virat Kohli’s 44th ODI ton designed a big win for the visitors. Ishan Kishan became the first cricketer ever to convert his maiden century into a double hundred.

Experienced pacer Jaydev Unadkat, who was recalled after a 12-year exile, is all set to join the squad on Tuesday. While he was supposed to leave for Chattogram, visa issues delayed his departure. Now, he will link up with the squad in Chattogram a day prior to the 1st Test. However, the delay means, he is unlikely to feature in the Chattogram Test.

IND vs BAN: India Playing XI vs Bangladesh- 1st Test

KL Rahul (C)

KL Rahul after his century in Centurion. Photo- AFP

Senior Indian batter, KL Rahul made his Test debut for India in the Boxing-day Test match in Melbourne against Australia in 2014. Since then, he has delivered some excellent knocks with the bat for India in the longest format of the game. He averages around 35 after playing 43 Tests.

Rohit Sharma has a very cherishing Test career against his name so far as an opener in Tests but will probably miss the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh due to dislocated thumb injury suffered in the 2nd ODI. He averages around 46 after playing 45 Tests.

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