BAN vs IND: Why is Shardul Thakur Not Playing Today’s Bangladesh vs India 1st Test Match?

Shardul Thakur BAN vs IND: In an important news development, India’s pacer Shardul Thakur is not playing the opening Test match against Bangladesh scheduled to be hosted at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. The Indian team have not witnessed the best of fortunes in this calendar year from the Test cricket point of view as they first lost as many as two matches in South Africa and then also suffered a massive defeat at the hands of England in the rescheduled fifth Test.

BAN vs IND: Why is Shardul Thakur Not Playing Today’s Bangladesh vs India 1st Test Match?

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, India’s skipper KL Rahul revealed that they are going ahead with the combination of three spinners and two pace bowlers. This also means that seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur misses out from the India playing 11. The pitch report at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium suggested that it is a batting-friendly surface and there won’t be any major assistance for the fast bowlers. In his short Test career so far, Shardul has taken as many as 27 wickets from just 8 Tests at an average of less than 25. India are playing Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin as the three spinners while Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj are the pacers.

“We’ll bat first. Looks a good wicket, put runs on the board and hope that the wicket breaks, use the foot-marks later on and try and see if we can take 20 wickets. There have been a few injuries, obviously we miss our captain Rohit and a few others but that gives opportunities to other guys. Everyone’s played a little bit of cricket and they’ll be excited to take on this challenge and contribute to the team. Kuldeep plays, there are 3 spinners – Axar, Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav – and two medium pacers – Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav,” said India captain KL Rahul during the toss.

IND Playing 11

1. KL Rahul (C)
2. Shubman Gill
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Shreyas Iyer
6. Rishabh Pant (wk)
7. Ravichandran Ashwin
8. Axar Patel
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Umesh Yadav
11. Mohammed Siraj

India vs Bangladesh Schedule