Rishabh Pant (Photo: Twitter)
Rishabh Pant on Sunday returned to the Test squad after nearly 20 months as India announced their 16-man squad for the opening match of the two-Test series against Bangladesh starting September 19.
Virat Kohli also returned after missing the five-Test series against England at home earlier this year due to taking time off for the birth of his second child.
While fast bowler Mohammed Shami is still on track for a comeback and was not included in the squad, Uttar Pradesh left-handed fast bowler Yash Dayal has received his first Test call-up.
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who was last seen in the national colours during the T20 World Cup, has returned to the squad and is expected to play a couple more Tests against New Zealand in October-November, before the team flies to Australia for a five-Test series.
Bumrah is perhaps the only player apart from Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma who has been given the freedom to choose based on workload requirements and how his body responds, sources said.
After playing in the second and final Test against Bangladesh at Mirpur from December 22-25, 2022, Pant met with a road accident a few days later on December 30 and returned to top-flight cricket only in the IPL this year.
The 26-year-old brash wicketkeeper-batsman returned to the national team for their title-winning T20 World Cup campaign.
Shami failed to make it to the Test squad despite chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar having earlier expressed that the right-arm seam spinner was aiming to make a comeback in the first Test against Bangladesh.
Dayal, who was once hit for five consecutive sixes by Rinku Singh in an IPL match, has had a remarkable redemption with his call-up to India.
After that game, the UP seamer’s mother fell ill and he reportedly stopped eating, but he impressed in his stints last year with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Dayal has played 24 First-Class matches for Uttar Pradesh since his debut in 2018, taking 76 wickets.
KL Rahul, who suffered a right thigh injury after the first Test match against England in Hyderabad, also returned to the Test squad. He scored 37 and a gritty 57 for India A against India B in the Duleep Trophy clash in Bengaluru that concluded on Sunday.
Unsurprisingly, the likes of Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal and Mukesh Kumar failed to find a place while wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel, who put in solid performances against England including match-winning knocks of 90 and 39 not out in the Ranchi Test, retained his place.
While Patidar fell short of runs in all three Tests he played against England, Padikkal scored 65 on debut in Dharamsala but had to make way with Kohli returning and Sarfaraz retaining his place.
Bengal right-arm spinner Akash Deep, who made his Test debut against England in Ranchi with an impressive three-wicket haul, took nine wickets in the Duleep Trophy match for India A against India B in Bengaluru.
India’s long Test season begins with the first of two Tests against Bangladesh in Chennai.
The second Test of the series will be played at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur from September 27 to October 1.
India and Bangladesh have played 13 Tests so far, in which the former has won 11 times while two ended in a draw.
Bangladesh will enter this series having recorded a historic 2-0 win over Pakistan in the opponent’s backyard, while it will be India’s first Test assignment since beating England 4-1 in January-March earlier this year.
Following the conclusion of the Tests against New Zealand in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, the team will travel to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which begins on November 22 in Perth.
India team for the first Test: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: September 8, 2024 | 22:54 IS
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