Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto called it correctly at the coin toss and decided to bowl first against India in the first Test being held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. India have included three pacers and two spinners for this contest. India captain Rohit Sharma said he would’ve have bowled first two with the pitch being a little soft and expects the conditions to test batters.
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“I would have done that as well. The pitch is little soft and it’s going to be challenging conditions,” said Rohit. “We have prepared well, so we should back our potential and play the way we know.”
The contest kickstarts India’s bumper season that will see them play 10 Tests including two against Bangladesh, three against New Zealand and five in Australia.
“Looking at the 10 Test matches, every match is important but our focus is on what lies in front. We came here (Chennai) a week back and had a good prep leading up to this one. We feel confident,” said Rohit.
Najmul is taking confidence from their historic clean sweep of Pakistan.
“There’s moisture on the wicket and we want to make use of it. Pitch looks hard. The first session will be very good for the seamers. The way we played that series (vs Pakistan), gives us confidence,” said Najmul.
These two teams have squared off 13 times in Tests with India winning 11 while two producing draws. India are currently at the top of the ICC World Test Championship points table while Bangladesh are fourth.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana
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