Pant, Rahul return to Test cricket with Bangladesh series; maiden call-up for Dayal

Rishabh Pant is back in the Test side for the first time since his car accident in December 2022 as India announced the squad for their first match against Bangladesh. There was no return for Mohammed Shami, though, who is recovering from an ankle surgery.

Meanwhile, left-arm seamer Yash Dayal has received his maiden Test call-up. His selection comes with an eye on the five-Test series in Australia later in the year.

The 16-member squad also sees the return of KL Rahul, who was ruled out of the England series after one Test. Akash Deep, who made his debut during that series, has retained his place. Akash impressed once again by picking up nine wickets in the Duleep Trophy game in Bengaluru.

Rahul’s last Test was in January against England, after which he was out of the rest of the series with a quadriceps injury. He gave a good account of himself in the same Duleep Trophy game, scoring 37 in the first innings and 57 in the second for India A. For India B, Pant scored 7 and 61, and took seven catches behind the stumps.

Dayal also impressed by picking up three wickets in the fourth innings to help India B to a comfortable win. He has played 24 first-class games so far in which he has picked 76 wickets at 28.89.

Dhruv Jurel, who made his debut against England and scored 190 runs in three Tests, is the second wicket-keeper in the side. From that series, India have left out Rajat Patidar, KS Bharat, Devdutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar and Mukesh Kumar.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are expected to lead the pace attack. In the spin department, India went with the usual quartet of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.

The first Test against Bangladesh will be played in Chennai from September 19 and the second Test in Kanpur from September 27. The two Tests will be followed by three T20Is.

India’s squad for first Test vs Bangladesh

Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal