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Rohit Sharma-led Team India will take the field after a long break as they host Bangladesh in two-match Test series, followed by a T20I series. Ahead of the first Test, which is set to commence from September 19 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, skipper Rohit Sharma dropped a major hint on star Indian pacer, Jasprit Bumrah’s participation in the second Test seeing a packed Test calendar ahead.
Notably, Team India is set to play ten Tests, starting with two-match series against their near neighbours, Bangladesh. After the completion of this, they will host New Zealand for a three-match Test series, followed by their tour down under for the five-match Border Gavaskar Trophy. Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, September 17, Rohit however did not open up on Bumrah’s participation, he did confirm that the team will rotate their pacers in the long Test season.
Want our best players to play all games: Rohit Sharma
Speaking ahead of first Test against Bangladesh, Rohit Sharma said that India will follow the same process like they did during the England Test series earlier this year. “Want our best players to play all the game but it’s not possible. You’ve to see what’s best for the team and manage your bowlers accordingly. It all depends on the workload that is being carried by them," Rohit Sharma said ahead of the first game.
"We will monitor that, we’ve been doing that well. Against England, we gave breaks to Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj. So, we will keep assessing them. You want everyone to play all the game, we’ve got a lot of bowlers. We saw exciting prospects in the Duleep Trophy. I am not too worried about the kind of bowlers waiting in the wings," he further added.
For the first Test, India has named four fast bowlers and as many spinners. While Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead the pacers line-up, Ravichandran Ashwin will take charge of the spin department along with the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. However, several reports quoting PTI have reported that India is set to play three spinners in Chennai with Axar Patel missing out.
India’s squad for first Test against Bangladesh
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, Kuleep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
