India have picked three seamers for the first Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and elected to bowl first on a cloudy morning in Chennai. Notably, the last time a team opted to bowl at Chepauk was in 1982. Hence, Shanto became the first captain to do so at the venue after 42 years. India captain Rohit Sharma also revealed his plan to bowl first after losing the toss and mentioned that the management has included three seamers for the match.
Hence, Akash Deep will join the seam duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The last time India fielded three seamers at home was in 2019 against Bangladesh during the Day/Night Test in Kolkata. Akash had a marvellous debut in international cricket as he replaced Bumrah during the fourth Test against England in Ranchi earlier this year. The 27-year-old picked 3/83 in the first innings dismissing Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in a magnificent new ball spell.
Recently, he also had a phenomenal outing for India A in the Duleep Trophy as he picked nine wickets in the first round of the tournament against India B at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Akash registered figures of 9/116 across two innings and played a brilliant innings of 43 (42) in the second innings.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been included as two spinners. KL Rahul also made a comeback in the side after missing the last four Tests of the series against England. The 32-year-old has been picked over Sarfaraz Khan who impressed everyone in his debut series against England in Rahul’s absence.
Wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is also returning to the Test side after over 20 months. On the other hand, Bangladesh fielded the same playing XI from their victorious last Test against Pakistan with Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana and Hasan Mahmud being three seamers.
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
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
