India will be seething to avenge their ODI series loss to Bangladesh when the first of the two-match Test series begins in Chattogram from December 14 onwards. The second Test will be played in Dhaka and both games are part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023.
India is in the fourth spot in the current ICC WTC 2023 standings and has six Tests in hand to qualify for the final. They can only lose one Test out of six and four of them will be against Australia next year at home.
This means this Test series gives India a very good chance to start on a winning note in Chattogram.
Keeping this in mind, here is the COC predicted Team India playing XI for the first Test in Chattogram.
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Thanks to the injury of regular captain Rohit Sharma, who will definitely miss the first Test, KL Rahul will captain the team in the first Test match. He is expected to be partnered with Shubman Gill at the top, while, Abhimanyu Easwaran is also an option for opening the innings.
Vice-captain for the series, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli will form the top of the middle order, while Shreyas Iyer is expected to keep his place with Rishabh Pant for the company in the middle order.
With Ravindra Jadeja out injured, Akshar Patel will be one of the main spinners with R Ashwin leading the way, and to fill the space left by Jadeja, the Indian team can opt for one of the two options they have.
One is experienced Kuldeep Yadav, who brings a left-arm wrist spin angle to the table and has rediscovered his mojo as well. Another is Saurabh Kumar, who impressed recently against Bangladesh A team, picking a six-fer.
With Mohammad Shami also out of the series due to an injury, Umesh Yadav is expected to lead the pace attack with most expectedly Mohammed Siraj. There are also options like Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, and Jaydev Unadkat to consider from.
COC Predicted Team India playing XI for the first Test:
KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Saurabh Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
