Ahead of Bangladesh Tests, India sweat hard in Chennai

Chennai, Sep 13: After the shocking 2-0 ODI series loss to Sri Lanka last month, Team India on Friday were busy with their preparations for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh. 

The first Test between the two Asian teams will commence on September 19 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, here.

After landing here on Thursday, several Indian Test team players were seen sweating hard on Friday morning, fine tuning their skills for the five-day red ball challenges against neighbours Bangladesh.

Former captain and India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli, who was in London, joined his teammates on Friday early morning, after flying directly from England. 

Surrounded by security personnel, Kohli landed at the Chennai airport around 4 am on Friday and made his way to the hotel. Kohli played his last Test match in India in March 2023, almost 18 months back.

The Chennai Test will also be the first red-ball assignment of new Head Coach Gautam Gambhir with Team India. After India lifted the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 under former Head Coach Rahul Dravid, Gambhir took over the mantle from his former teammate.

Although, Gambhir had a fine beginning as Team India Head Coach with the T20I series victory against Sri Lanka under new captain Suryakumar Yadav, but ODI series was a rude shock.

Despite presence of the senior players like skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, India lost the three match One Day Internationals to the island nation 2-0.