India vs Bangladesh 1st Test: Rishabh Pant DEMOTED, THIS player is new Vice-Captain of team

Cheteshwar Pujara was Ajinkya Rahane’s deputy in the 2nd Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series in 2020-21 but was replaced after Rohit joined the squad for the last 2 Tests.

Rishabh Pant (left) and Cheteshwar Pujara. (Source: Twitter)

Team India captain Rohit Sharma has been officially ruled out of first Test against Bangladesh, beginning in Chattogram on Wednesday (December 14). Vice-Captain KL Rahul will be now leading the side in his absence but it is interesting to note that Rahul’s deputy will be someone new.

In the absence of seniors like Rohit, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant was leading the T20 side and had been promoted to the position of vice-captain of the Test side in their absence. However, due to poor form and struggles with fitness issues, Pant has been demoted and Cheteshwar Pujara has been named as the vice-captain for the first Test against Bangladesh.

Pujara is a veteran of 96 Test matches but hasn’t been part of the leadership group on many occasions in his career and the decision comes as a big surprise. He was Ajinkya Rahane’s deputy in the 2nd Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series in 2020-21 but was replaced after Rohit joined the squad for the last 2 Tests.

#TeamIndia Test team is here _ #BANvIND pic.twitter.com/65jpP7RoZP — BCCI (@BCCI) December 12, 2022

Pujara has only played one Test match since his comeback. The BCCI decision suggests that he has regained the selectors and head coach Rahul Dravid’s trust. Pujara was among the four senior players who were dropped from the Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka. He is the only player, who has staged his return to the team.

The first Test match of the series will be played from December 14 to 18 in Chattogram while the 2nd game will take place from December 22 to 26 in Dhaka.

Wicketkeeper KS Bharat is also part of the Test match squad if Pant fails to recover full fitness, which kept him out of the three-match ODI series which Team India lost 2-1. Meanwhile, pacer Jaydev Unadkat has also made a comeback into the Test squad, replacing Mohammed Shami while Abhimanyu Easwaran, captain of India ‘A’ team has been named as injured Rohit Sharma’s replacement.

India’s updated squad for Bangladesh Tests

KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat