India leave out both Axar Patel & Kuldeep as Bangladesh opt to bowl

Team India will be playing three specialist seamers in a home Test for the first time in nearly five years as the hosts have been asked to bat first by Bangladesh in the first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The last time India played three specialist seamers in a home Test was back in Kolkata in 2019, incidentally against Bangladesh when Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav all played together in the pink-ball Test.

On this occasion, the hosts will operate with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep as their three seamers in the starting XI. Both Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have been left out of the starting XI.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, have also gone with three seamers. They are unchanged from the second Test in Rawalpindi against Pakistan, where they played the trio of Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana. 

The Test will mark the return of Rishabh Pant to Test cricket. Pant last played in whites for India 635 days ago, against Bangladesh in Dhaka. 

Why are three pacers playing for both teams? Hear from the captains

Rohit Sharma: I would have done that as well (bowl first). The pitch is a little soft. It's going to be challenging conditions. We have prepared well, so we should back our potential and play the way we know. Looking at the 10 Test matches, every match is important. But we want to focus on what lies in front of us. We came here a week back, we had a good prep leading up to this one. We feel confident. Three seamers and two spinners - Bumrah, Akash Deep, Siraj, Ashwin and Jadeja.

Najmul Hossain Shanto: I'll like to bowl first. There's moisture on the wicket, and we want to use it. The pitch looks hard, and there's moisture. The first session will be very good for the seamers. We are confident in the way we played that series (against Pakistan). This is a new series, so we'll have to follow our processes. It's a good mixture of experience and youth. We go with three seamers and two spin allrounders.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana

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