Bangladesh opt to bat first in series opener against India

Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first in the series opener against India on Thursday at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.

Mominul Haque, the left-handed top-order batsman, is leading the side for the first time in Test. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) handed the captaincy over to him after Shakib Al Hasan was banned for two years, UNB reports.

Along with Shakib, Bangladesh will miss the service of Tamim Iqbal who has been out of action due to personal reason.

Imrul Kayes is back to the playing XI after a break of one year. Bangladesh team management decided to go with two-man pace attack comprising Abu Jayed Rahi and Ebadat Hossain. Taijul Islam will lead the spin-bowling attack, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz will accompany him.

Since Soumya Sarkar is missing this Test series, Bangladesh opted to include Mohammad Mithun in the middle-order. The right-handed batsman played his last Test in March this year against New Zealand at Wellington.

Along with Shakib and Soumya, Mosaddek Hossain and Nayeem Hasan are also out of this Test.

Bangladesh played nine Tests against India before but failed to win any of them.

With this series, Bangladesh are starting their journey to the World Test Championship. India, on the other hand, played five Tests in the event and won all of them.

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Imrul Kayes, Shadman Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Mominul Haque (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Liton Das (w), Mehedy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed, Ebadat Hossain

India (Playing XI): Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma.