No KL Rahul & Axar Patel! Former Oz Spinner Picks India's Playing XI For 1st Test Against Bangladesh
India will face Bangladesh in a two-match Test series later this month. The series opener is scheduled to take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from September 19 onwards, and Green Park Stadium in Kanpur will host the second red-ball match from September 27. The BCCI took to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday (September 8) to announce a 16-member squad for the first Test in Chennai.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is back in the red-ball team after a gap of 21 months, and in addition to him, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are also picked for the first Test. Kohli had missed the five-match series against England earlier this year due to the birth of his second child, whereas Rahul was out of the last four Tests due to injury.
Ahead of the start of the first Test in Chennai, former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has picked India’s playing XI and left Rahul and Axar Patel out. He also preferred Pant over Dhruv Jurel as wicketkeeper-batter.
“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 on his YouTube channel.
According to him, the XI that he has picked will also be ideal for the Australia series.
“That team will go pretty well down in Australia as well. So, they’ve got to start warming up for the Australian summer. India, so this will be a good start for them. No KL Rahul or Axar Patel in my playing XI,” he added.
Axar was on fire for India D in the Duleep Trophy 2024 match played against India C in Anantapur last week. He hammered 86 runs with the help of six fours and as many sixes in the first inning and then picked up wickets as well in both innings. On the other hand, Rahul was India A’s top scorer in both the inning of the match played against India B at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
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