India’s cricket selectors have named a tried and tested squad for the first of two Test matches against Bangladesh starting September 19 in Chennai, with left-arm pace bowler Yash Dayal the only new face. 

Dayal, a left-arm seamer from Uttar Pradesh, has been named for the first time in any India squad after claiming four wickets for India B in the Duleep Trophy. Overall, in first-class cricket, he has taken 76 wickets at 28.89 apiece from 24 games. It was thought that India would choose one left-armer between Dayal and Arshdeep Singh, who has plenty of white-ball experience with India, and the selectors have gone for the quicker option. 

From the previous Test squad which the BCCI selectors picked when England visited earlier this year, five changes have been made: the return of Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant has meant that KS Bharat and Devdutt Padikkal have been omitted, KL Rahul has taken Rajat Patidar’s place and Dayal has replaced Mukesh Kumar. 

This will be the first Test match for Pant since December 2022 when India toured Bangladesh just days before he suffered injuries from a serious car crash. Pant has played 33 Tests for India, averaging 43.67 with five hundreds in the format. 

Rahul has not played a Test since February, when he injured himself during the England series. Kohli has skipped all five Tests for personal reasons. 

Rohit Sharma, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Kohli, Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan form the batting core with Dhruv Jurel, who excelled in his maiden Test series against England in February-March being named as the reserve wicketkeeper. 

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj look the likeliest to take the new ball for the first Test, with Akash Deep and Dayal the other two pace options. Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are the four spinners picked. 

The first Test is in Chennai, where traditionally spin has had a big say, and the second starts on September 27 in Kanpur. This marks the start of India’s busy Test season, which includes ten matches over the span of four months. India host Bangladesh and then New Zealand for three Tests, before heading to Australia for five Tests between November 22 and January 7. 

Bangladesh have previously toured India twice for Test matches. In 2017, they were beaten in a one-off Test in Hyderabad, and then two years later were blanked 2-0 with both defeats coming inside three days. However, this time around the visitors bring with them the promise of a stiffer contest, given that Najmul Hossain Shanto’s team recently beat Pakistan 2-0 for a historic overseas Test series win. 

Rohit Sharma’s team is atop the World Test Championship table with 74 points from nine matches, whereas Bangladesh are at fourth with 33 from six. 

India squad for the 1st Test of the Bangladesh Test series: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal