The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced today the team for the India-Bangladesh T20 and Test series. All-rounder Shivam Dubey is set to make his international debut in T20 cricket while Kerala’s Sanju Samson has returned to the team after four years. The BCCI has made Rohit Sharma the captain of the T20 team to give Virat Kohli some rest.
The first T20 match in the series will be played on the home ground on 3 November in Delhi; the second T20 on 7 November will be held in Rajkot, Gujarat, and the third T20 will be in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on 10 November.
The first Test will be played in Indore on 14-18 November while the second Test will be held in Kolkata, 22 to 26 November.
The selectors have dropped Shahbaz Nadeem who had played the previous Test against South Africa. Injury-prone pacer Jasprit Bumrah and allrounder Hardik Pandya have not been included in any team. Kohli said, “Former captain Sourav Ganguly has played a lot of cricket. They understand the needs of the team well.”
Hardik Pandya is out of the team due to a back injury. He is undergoing treatment in London. The BCCI replaced allrounder Shivam in the T20 squad. Kerala batsman Sanju recently hit a record 212 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Their good form played a role in their selection, sources said. Sanju played his only international T20 against Zimbabwe on 19 July 5015, scoring 19 runs.
Test team: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Riddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill
T20 team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khalil Ahmed, Shivam Dubey, Shardul Thakur.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Kolkata to watch the second Test to be held at the Eden Gardens. According to Sourav Ganguly, she will ring the bell at the Eden Gardens to signal the start of the second Test match in the series. The BCCI will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too.
