The two-Test series between India and Bangladesh is all set to get underway on Thursday (September 19) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

On the eve of the opening Test, former opener Aakash Chopra shared his India playing XI on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

Chopra picked Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal to open the innings. Shubman Gill was slotted to bat at No. 3, followed by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.

Rishabh Pant, who hasn’t played Test cricket since his horrific car accident in December 2022, was chosen as the wicketkeeper-batter for No. 6 position.

The cricketer-turned-commentator selected three premier spinners in his line-up – R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were the two fast bowling options in his XI.

Besides Aakash Chopra, former wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also named his Indian playing XI for the series opener against Bangladesh.

While Karthik’s batting line-up was same as that of Aakash, he made one change in the bowling combination.

Instead of three spinners, Karthik preferred to go with two tweakers and three pacers. He picked Akash Deep in his playing XI as the third pacer and left out left-arm spinner Kuldeep.

Bangladesh have come to India on the back of a historic 2-0 Test series win in Pakistan. While the Tigers have a history of pulling off surprises against India and giving them a scare in white-ball cricket, they are yet to defeat the neighbors in the traditional format of the game.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sarfaraz Khan, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Dhruv Jurel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Akash Deep

Bangladesh Squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Litton Das (wk), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Jaker Ali, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Khaled Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana