Injury-Hit India Opt to Bat in First Bangladesh Test

Stand-in Indian skipper KL Rahul won the toss Wednesday and chose to bat in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, reports AFP.

Shakib Al Hasan passed a fitness test and will captain the home side, who handed opening batsman Zakir Hasan a Test debut.

India have been hit by injuries with captain Rohit Sharma out for at least the first match and fast bowler Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja playing no part in the series.

"Looks a good wicket and we'll put the runs on the board and use the footmarks later on to get wickets," Rahul said at the toss.

Shakib said he too would have batted had he won the toss.

"We're playing a Test after a big gap of five months but we've prepared well," he said.

The two-match series forms part of the ICC World Test Championship. 

India are fourth, having won six of their 12 matches. Bangladesh are in last place with eight defeats from 10 matches.

Teams:

India: KL Rahul (capt), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Zakir Hasan, Yasir Ali, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain

Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG), Sharfuddoula (BAN)

TV umpire: Chris Brown (NZL)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)