[Watch] Team India hit the ground running in their final nets session before 1st Test vs Bangladesh
Despite a few injuries in their ranks, Team India looked upbeat and focused during their final practice session ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh. The match is set to begin in Chattogram on Wednesday, December 14.
The BCCI posted a video in which the players were seen sweating it out in Chattogram ahead of the beginning of a crucial series for them. The video began with Virat Kohli and Co. getting off the team bus. Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant were then seeing warming up.
It also showed some of the fielding drills that took place, including the slip catching, giving an idea of what India's slip cordon could look like on Wednesday. Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj and Umrah Yadav were then seen bowling in the nets and getting their radar right according to the conditions.
Kohli and Pujara also batted in the nets, with their form expected to be crucial for India in this Test series. Stand-in skipper KL Rahul was seen doing a bit of shadow batting towards the end of the video as well.
Here's what the BCCI posted:
India's bowling combination could be interesting in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja is arguably one of the best all-rounders in the world at the moment, at least in Tests, and his absence could affect India's balance. They generally tend to go in with three spinners and two pacers, where the spinners are all-rounders who can also contribute handy runs down the order.
Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav look set to be the two pacers, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel acting as the two spin-bowling all-rounders. The only spot that remains is that of the third spinner.
The Two Captains - @klrahul & Shakib Al Hasan pose with the silverware ahead of the two-match Test series.
#BANvIND https://t.co/IlcH39MncZ
It will be interesting to see if the team play Kuldeep Yadav or hand Saurabh Kumar, who has done well in domestic cricket as an all-rounder, an international debut. Saurabh is more of a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja, but Yadav has more experience, having featured in seven Tests previously.
Updated squad for Bangladesh Tests: KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat.