Team India adapts to this pitch strategy for 1st Test
The Indian cricket team is gearing up for its first Test match against Bangladesh, scheduled to commence on September 19. This will be the team's first Test match in six months, since their last game against England in March. Additionally, the match will see the debut of Morne Morkel, the former South African fast bowler, as India's new bowling coach. Team India has adapted a different approach during its practice session in relation to the surface. Here's more.
Dual pitch practice: A novel approach
According to The Indian Express, in a unique strategy, the Indian cricket team utilized two nets for batting during their first practice session. Under the guidance of head coach Gautam Gambhir and Morkel, key players including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Yashasvi Jaiswal trained on both black and red soil pitches. The spinners were assigned to the black soil pitch while pacers trained on the red one at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
India's bowling line-up and net bowlers
India's bowling attack features spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. The pace attack will be led by Jasprit Bumrah, debutant Yash Dayal, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep. Several promising players have been enlisted as net bowlers for practice sessions, including spinners S Ajith Ram, M Siddharth, and P Vignesh, as well as pacers Arpit Guleria, Gurnoon Brar, Yudhvir Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Simarjeet Singh, and Gurjapneet Singh.
WTC points at stake in upcoming Test series
The two-match series against Bangladesh holds significant importance for India as it offers crucial ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points. This series kicks off a tough 10-match Test season for India, featuring a three-Test series at home against New Zealand and the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia later this year. Currently, India lead the WTC table with 68.52% percentage points (PCT), closely followed by Australia at 62.50% percentage points.
India's record in Tests against Bangladesh
India are a formidable side against the Tigers boasting a record of 11-0 (2 drawn). The last encounter between the two was back in 2022, where India white-washed Bangladesh 2-0 in the two-Test series. Meanwhile, Ashwin has picked up 23 wickets against Bangladesh in his six appearances at an average of 26.78. Additionally, Kohli boasts 439 runs in his six outings against Bangladesh at an average of 54.62.
India's 16-member squad for first Test vs Bangladesh
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, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
