Senior India batter Virat Kohli looked in vintage touch in India’s training session in Chennai ahead of the team’s first match against Bangladesh.
India will play Bangladesh in a 2-match Test series, starting in Chennai on September 19. The Rohit-Sharma-led outfit has started training in Chennai a week in advance to get used to the conditions. The Board of Control for Cricket in India posted a video of the team’s training on Saturday, September 14. Kohli looked in superb touch with the bat, while Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul looked in good knick as well.
Kohli had missed India’s previous Test series against England, held in the months of January-March in 2024. In the absence of Kohli, India opted for multiple combinations in the middle order and triumphed over Ben Stokes’ side 4-1. Kohli was in superb touch in Test cricket before taking a personal break. The batter had scored a century in South Africa in tough conditions.
INDIA VS BANGLADESH, 1ST TEST
India announced the squad on September 8, Sunday for the first Test against Bangladesh with Rishabh Pant making a return. Pant, who last played a Test match all the way back in December 2022, recently made his return to red-ball cricket during the Duleep Trophy 2024. The wicketkeeper-batter was part of the India B team that defeated India A in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Incidentally, Pant’s last Test match was also against Bangladesh, as he was part of the team that won the game in Mirpur before he met with a car accident late in 2022. Pant and Dhruv Jurel, who was sensational behind the stumps during the Duleep trophy round 1 match, were picked as the designated wicketkeepers in the squad. KL Rahul is also back in the squad as a pure batter for the first Test.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja are all part of the squad having missed the Duleep trophy first match. There is also a first call-up for Yash Dayal in the team, which doesn’t have Shreyas Iyer in the mix.
Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.