New Delhi: Ahead of the start of the two-match Test series between India and Bangladesh, former Australia spinner Brad Hogg named his predicted playing XI for Rohit Sharma & Co. for the series opener in Chennai. The first Test will get underway at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on September 19. BCCI on Sunday announced India’s 16-man squad for the 1st Test against Bangladesh.
While wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant made his comeback to Test cricket after nearly 20 months, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul also returned. Kohli had to miss the home Test series against England earlier this year due to the birth of his son while Rahul had missed the majority of the series due to an injury. Pacer Yash Dayal was handed his maiden Test call-up for the series while Sarfaraz Khan and Akash Deep retained their spots.
Hogg picked the pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Rohit Sharma to open the innings for India in the 1st Test against Bangladesh followed by Shubman Gill and Kohli at no.3 and 4 respectively. Hogg backed Sarfaraz to bat in the middle order and picked Pant as his first-choice wicket-keeper batter. He named Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin as the two all-rounders while snubbing R Ashwin.
Hogg also ignored Rahul by picking Sarfaraz ahead of him. The former Australia spinner picked Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj as the two pacers and kept Kuldeep Yadav in his XI as the lone specialist spinner.
“The XI that I am going to the first Test match against Bangladesh for India—Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma open the batting. Gill at three, Kohli at four, and Jadeja coming at five just to keep that left-handed right-hand combination going. Sarfaraz Khan, Pant, and then you’re into the bowlers, where you’ve got Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Siraj, and Bumrah,” Hogg said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Brad Hogg’s predicted India playing XI for 1st Test:
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Rahul likely to be preferred over Sarfaraz
As per a report in PTI, the Indian team management is likely to prefer Rahul over Sarfaraz in the middle order due to his experience. The right-hander was sidelined due to an injury during the Test series against England earlier this year and the team management believes he deserves to continue after returning. Rahul was in action for India A in the first round of Duleep Trophy recently where he notched up 94 runs in two innings.
Former Australia spinner snubbed all-rounder Axar Patel and KL Rahul as he named his playing XI for the Indian team for the 1st Test against Bangladesh in Chennai which gets underway on September 19. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
