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India are set to kick off their Test season with a two-match series against neighbours , Bangladesh from September 19. The first match of the series will take place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Later this season, the Rohit Sharma -led side will also host New Zealand for a three-match series before they visit the Kangaroos for the five-match tour in November, better called the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
The forthcoming series will see several key Indian players making their return to action, including batting maestro Virat Kohli. The only star player who will miss out on the series against Bangladesh will be Mohammed Shami, who is yet to recover fully from his ankle injury. Not only this, but the series will also see Gautam Gambhir making his debut as the head coach of the Indian cricket team in the red-ball format. However, Gambhir will have to make a tough choice before the first Test regarding the wicketkeeper’s spot as they have Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel in the squad.
Watch Team India prepping up for first Test vs Bangladesh:
Rishabh Pant or Dhruv Jurel: Who should keep wickets for India in first Test against Bangladesh?
Rishabh Pant, the young star wicketkeeper-batter, who made his ODI and T20I comeback earlier this year, is all set to make his Test comeback after the fatal accident in 2022. Pant, who narrowly escaped a deadly accident in December 2022 had played his last match in the same month. For a year that he was out of action, names like Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel were given the opportunities.
While others couldn’t prove themselves suitable for the role for some reason or the other, Dhruv Jurel handled the responsibility quite well in the series against England. Possibly, it is the reason young Jurel has once again received the call and might get to keep gloves in the first game. However, Pant has established his place as India’s first-choice keeper and delivered some of the most key performances for the side in previous important matches.
Talking about his personal record, though Pant is an all-format player, he has his best record in Test cricket. Pant has played 33 Tests for India so far, where he averages 43 and has five centuries and 11 fifties to his name. Not only this, but he is the only Indian wicketkeeper so far to score Test centuries in Australia, England and South Africa.
In his red-ball return, Pant emerged as India B’s top-scorer after smashing 47-ball 61 with a combination of nine fours and two sixes. Keeping everything in mind, it seems like Pant is going to be the first choice for the position of wicketkeeper in the opening Test of the two-match series.
