Abhinav Mukund included in India squad for Bangladesh Test

Indian selectors met at the headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office in Mumbai to pick the 16-man squad for the one-off Test match against Bangladesh at Hyderabad starting February 9. Tamil Nadu skipper Abhinav Mukund who had a successful domestic season has made it to the team for the first time since 2011.

After a delay of 6 hours, the meeting finally went underway. Initial reports suggested that Amitabh Chaudhury who was to convene the meeting was termed ineligible and thus barred by the newly appointed chief of the BCCI administrative committee former CAG Vinod Rai. BCCI CEO Rahul Johri then got in touch with the selectors via video conferencing. One of the selectors Sarandeep Singh reported 4 hours after MSK Prasad & Co. assembled.

Keeping other things apart the selectors stuck to the tried and tested team denying to experiment despite the opponent being No.8 ranked Bangladesh since they have recently done well at home beating England in a Test for the very first time and the top-ranked team wouldn’t want to take chances.

There were only two changes in the team. Wriddhiman Saha walked into his spot as the preferred wicketkeeper-batsman to replace Parthiv Patel despite impressive performances since Prasad had already specified their preferences. Mukund has been included as the backup opener in place of out of form Shikhar Dhawan in the team that has Murali Vijay and KL Rahul.

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Surprisingly the selectors decided to go in with an extra spinner and picked leggie Amit Mishra thus opting for a 16-man squad instead of 15 which in itself is a large sized selection given it is a home game. The wicket at the Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad favored the pacers during the Ranji Trophy while the selectors decision suggests the possibility of change in the strip can be expected.

The batting order comprises of skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair. Hardik Pandya is the seam bowling allrounder while Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jayant Yadav are the spinners and other allrounders.

Umesh Yadav who has rediscovered consistency at the Test level along with senior-pro Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar form the pace bowling attack. Hardik gives them the option of playing just one seamer in case they field all the four spinners included in the squad.

India team for Bangladesh Test:

Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Abhinav Mukund, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya