Kuldeep Yadav NOT in India's Playing XI vs Bangladesh in 1st Test in Chennai. Here's WHY

Ind vs Ban: It is surprising that Kuldeep Yadav is not in the side as the third spinner on a Chepauk strip that traditionally assists spinners. Even before the game started, the thought was that India will go in with a three spinners and two pacers combination considering the history of the Chepauk track. And it was believed Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav would feature as the three spinners. Now that Kuldeep is not there, one would have expected India captain Rohit Sharma to speak about it at the toss - but he chose not to. The only reason that could have forced Rohit and Gautam Gambhir to leave out Kuldeep could be the red soil. The red soil offers bounce and that is exactly what Dinesh Karthik said at the pitch report. 

ALSO READ: Live Cricket Score - India vs Bangladesh 1st Test Day 1 Updates

'What does red soil mean - bounce, turn and as the game progresses, the big spinners come into play. They have left a little bit of residual moisture underneath the pitch. So the fast bowlers will have their say at the start," Karthik said at the pitch report.

At the toss, the Bangladesh captain said that he opted to bowl because of the overcast conditions. 

'Pitch looks hard and there's moisture'

"There's moisture on the wicket and we want to make use of it. Pitch looks hard and there's moisture. The first session will be very good for the seamers. The way we played that series (against Pakistan ), we are confident. This is a new series, we'll have to follow our processes. It's a good mixture of experience and youth. We go with three seamers and two spin allrounders," Najmul Shanto at the toss. 

Ind vs Ban Teams:

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli , KL Rahul , Rishabh Pant (w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin , Jasprit Bumrah , Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj