‘I feel Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will together score at least 125 runs’ - Aakash Chopra makes bold prediction ahead of India’s first Test against Bangladesh

After getting ruled out of the ODI series because of a back injury, stumper-batter Rishabh Pant is all set to make his return in the two-match Test series between Bangladesh and India. His recent run-drought in limited-overs cricket has been a massive point of discussion and it eventually reflected in the Test series, when the southpaw was suddenly removed as the vice-captain of the side.

In the England series, Pant was appointed as Bumrah's deputy when designated skipper Rohit Sharma was unavailable for selection. However, in the current scenario, Cheteshwar Pujara has been handed the role and thus, Pant once again needs to prove himself in order to earn the position.

Meanwhile, former skipper Virat Kohli is yet to return back to his absolute best in red-ball cricket. The 34-year-old hit his last Test century in 2019 and thus, is expected to be hungry to once again prove himself in the longest format. After finishing as the leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup, Kohli smashed a brilliant century against Bangladesh in the third ODI of the series and therefore, is in tremendous form at the moment.

Now, given his ability and Rishabh Pant’s history in Test cricket, former India international Aakash Chopra believes that the duo can score at least 125 runs together for India in the first Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

“I feel Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will together score at least 125 runs in this Test match across the two innings. I am assuming Rishabh Pant is available, KS Bharat is in the team but Pant will be available,” said the 45-year-old on his YouTube channel.

Ashwin and Axar Patel will together pick up 10 or more wickets: Chopra

Since the conditions will favour the spinners at Chattogram, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel can once again be the differentials in the first Test. The two of them have been extremely successful in these kind of conditions and thus, Aakash Chopra believes that they will pick at least 10 wickets in the first Test.

“My second prediction is that Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel will together pick up 10 or more wickets. 20 wickets will fall in total, and 10 out of them can come in their account, that's what I feel,” the former cricketer added.