Rishabh Pant returns to India Test squad against Bangladesh; Dayal included

New Delhi: Rishabh Pant has returned to India’s Test squad after nearly two years for the first match against Bangladesh in Chennai from September 19-23. BCCI announced a 16-member squad on Sunday for the first Test. The second Test against Bangladesh will be held in Kanpur from September 27 to October 1.

Pant’s last Test appearance also came against Bangladesh in December 2022 before a car accident sidelined him for nearly 15 months. It was at the IPL in March this year that Pant made a comeback to competitive cricket. Since then, the star wicketkeeper-batter has featured for India in white-ball cricket, most notably at the T20 World Cup in June that they won. Pant’s return to the Test squad was a matter of formality after he featured for India B in their Duleep Trophy clash against India A in Bengaluru, which concluded on Sunday.

He was his belligerent self in the second innings, smashing 61 off just 47 balls to set up a 76-run win for India B. Pant and Dhruv Jurel are the two glovemen in the squad while KL Rahul has also returned after missing the last four Tests of the five-match series against England in February-March due to injury.

Left-arm seamer Yash Dayal has earned a maiden call-up to the Test squad. The 26-year-old from Uttar Pradesh also featured in the first round of Duleep Trophy matches. Playing for the same team as Pant, Dayal took three wickets in the second innings to add to his lone scalp in the first. The pace attack will be spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, who must be fresh and raring to go after being given a sufficient break post the T20 World Cup.

The squad: 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, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal