India's 40-day break from international cricket will finally end on September 19 with the first Test against Bangladesh getting underway in Chennai. The two-match series is also part of the World Test Championship (WTC) and several first-choice players including Virat Kohli who missed the home series against England have returned to the fold again.
Moreover, Rishabh Pant is set to make his Test comeback after more than 600 days and will slot back as wicketkeeper in the line-up. India head coach Gautam Gambhir has confirmed the same in the pre-match press conference ahead of the Test match. This means Dhruv Jurel who performed exceptionally well in the last three Tests against England scoring 190 runs, will have to wait for his chance now.
At the same time, KL Rahul is also set to be preferred in the playing XI over Sarfaraz Khan. For the unversed, Rahul had missed the last four Tests against England due to injury and was in good form before that. Rohit Sharma backed him in the presser on Tuesday (September 17) and now Gambhir has stated that Sarfaraz will have to wait for his opportunity too. Like Jurel, even Sarfaraz had impressed on debut scoring 200 runs in five innings at an average of 50.
"We don’t drop anyone. We just pick the players who fit the XI. We believe in selecting the XI. Jurel is a phenomenal player but when Pant is coming in, sometimes people have to wait. Same with Sarfaraz. There will be opportunities and you have to wait," India's head coach said. The 42-year-old also lauded Rishabh Pant for his fearless batting and brilliant wicketkeeping skills in the longest format of the game.
"We all know how destructive Pant can be and what he has done. Not many of his age have done it across conditions. With batting and behind the stumps he has been phenomenal. His batting over shadows his keeping especially against the spinners," he further added.
