NEW DELHI: Star wicket-keeper batter Rishabh made a comeback while left-arm pacer
Yash Dayal
got a maiden call-up as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday announced the Team India squad for the first Test against Bangladesh, starting September 19 in Chennai.
Pant returns to the Indian Test squad after nearly 20 months for the two-match series.
Having played in the second and final Test against Bangladesh at Mirpur from December 22-25, 2022, Pant had met a road accident a few days later on December 30 and made his return to top flight cricket only in IPL this year.
The 26-year-old swashbuckling batter returned to the national side in their title-winning campaign in the T20 World Cup.
Pacer Akash Deep, who recently took 9 wickets in the Duleep Trophy game was included in the 16-man squad.
Virat Kohli also returned to the Test side having missed the five-Test series against England at home earlier this year.
Mohammed Shami, who has been recovering from injury and was eyeing a return in the series was not named for the first Test.
Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the side while Dhruv Jurel has been picked as the second keeper-batter in the side.
India and Bangladesh have played 13 Tests so far in which the former has won 11 times while two have ended in draws.
The second Test of the series will be played at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur from September 27 to October 1.
Bangladesh will enter this series having recorded a historic 2-0 win over Pakistan in the opponent's backyard whereas it will be India's first Test assignment since beating England 4-1 at home in January-March earlier this year.
Team India squad for first Test - 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, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
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