Rishabh Pant makes a comeback as Sarfaraz Khan faces exclusion: India's probable playing XI for 1st Test against Bangladesh

There will be several players worth keeping an eye on in the upcoming matches, but one player that stands out is Rishabh Pant. His last Test match was in December 2022, before a tragic car accident halted his career for over a year.

Pant returned to international cricket in the T20 World Cup and was an integral part of India's run to the title. While Dhruv Jurel and KL Rahul performed exceptionally as wicketkeeper-batters in his absence, it is no surprise that the 26-year-old has been brought back into the side as soon as he was available as Pant was pretty much India's most consistent and in-form batter in Test cricket for nearly two years before his accident.

While Jurel will hence be on the bench, Rahul will be back in the squad as a pure batter, with head coach Gautam Gambhir indicating that Sarfaraz Khan may have to wait for his chance to arrive.

India are also likely to go for a three-pronged spin attack, unless the conditions for this series are favouring pacers, which was the case the last time Bangladesh toured the country. If that is the case though, one can expect a three-pronged pace battery of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep. However, that is highly unlikely and so one can expect India to bring in Kuldeep Yadav along with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Kuldeep's stature has skyrocketed in recent years and he has also proven to be a handy lower-order batter. It is hence likely that he will be preferred over Axar Patel as a better wicket-taking option. Siraj is also expected to be favoured over Akash Deep as Bumrah's fast bowling partner.

There will also be a lot of eyes on Bumrah, who will be playing his first match since final of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Bumrah was expected to be rested for this series as well and was a surprise inclusion when the squad was announced for the first Test. The fact that he has been called up is an indicator of how seriously India are taking Bangladesh in this series, especially after the latter whitewashed Pakistan away from home.

Batters - Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul

All-Rounders - Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin

Wicketkeeper - Rishabh Pant

Bowlers - Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj