India are all to begin their long Test season, comprising 10 matches, which will eventually end with the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia, on Thursday. The Rohit Sharma-led side will take on Bangladesh, fresh from their historic 2-0 clean sweep against Pakistan last month, in Chennai in the opening Test before the caravan moves to Kanpur for the second and final Test of the series next week.

Heading into the match, India's main concern regarding the playing XI has been their bowling combination. With Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium reportedly set to roll out a red-soil pitch, keeping in mind the preparations for the Australia tour, which will aid the pacers, India could go with a 3-2 combination. This could imply that Akash Deep, who picked up a match-winning nine-wicket haul in the Duleep Trophy earlier this month and impressed on his Test debut for India in Ranchi earlier this year against England could be picked as the third seamer.

India are predominantly set to go the 2019 way, when they had set similar pitch conditions against Bangladesh in their last home encounter as the spinners had picked just five wickets, where Ravindra Jadeja bowled only 19 overs across the two matches.

However, according to a report in PTI, captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir have decided on a 2-3 combination, implying three spinners in Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will share workload in the pace department. Axar, who was India's hero in the T20 World Cup final, and displayed a brilliant all-round performance in the Duleep Trophy earlier this month, will have to sit out.

Rishabh Pant vs Dhruv Jurel

Jurel made an impressive Test debut earlier this year against England, which included a Player-of-the-Match-award winning show in Ranchi. However, the youngster will have to make way for Rishabh Pant in the playing XI for the opening Test against Bangladesh. The left-hander last featured in the format in December 2022, before being sidelined from cricket with a car accident.

The rest of the batting line-up requires less discussion, with Rohit opening alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, while Shubmam Gill at No. 3, followed by Virat Kohli, would complete the top-order. At No. 5, KL Rahul is expected to be picked give his experience over Sarfaraz Khan, who showed signs of struggles in his two appearances in the Duleep Trophy so far.

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