Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and opted to bowl first at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on September 19. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma wanted to bowl first in the “challenging conditions” as well. Both teams have gone in with three seamers for the first Test.
“I'll like to bowl first. There's moisture and we want to make use of it. Pitch looks hard. The first session will be very good for the seamers. This is a new series. It's a good mixture of experience and youth. We go with three seamers,” Shanto said after winning the toss.
Rohit went with three seamers and two spinners. All-rounder Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav did not find a place in the side. Yash Dayal is yet to make his Test debut whereas as head coach Gautam Gambhir mentioned in the pre-match press conference, youngsters Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel made way for senior players KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.
“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. Three seamers and two spinners - Bumrah, Akash Deep, Siraj, Ashwin and Jadeja,” Rohit said at the coin toss.
Playing XIs:
India's Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, R 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(wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana
Head-to-head
Bangladesh are yet to beat India in Test cricket. The two have locked horns in 13 Tests so far. India have won 11 whereas two have ended in a draw.
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