New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squad for the first two Test matches against England starting January 25. Rohit Sharma, who recently captained India in the two-match Test series in South Africa, will continue to lead the side against Ben Stokes and Co.
Young wicketkeeper batter Dhruv Jurel got his maiden India call-up as he got picked as a wicketkeeper alongside KL Rahul and KS Bharat.
India named four spinners–Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav–in their Test squad for the first two matches.
Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav did not travel to South Africa for the recent test series against the Proteas but come back into contention on home pitches that are expected to take plenty of turn.
They join Ravichandran Ashwin and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in a 16-man party that will contest the opening games of the five-match series in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
When England last toured India in 2021 when it crumbled in the face of extreme turn as Ashwin and Patel combined to take 60 wickets.
Easwaran was the unfortunate one to be left out of the squad. Apart from him, pace-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has also been omitted while pacer Prasidh Krishna, who made his debut in the South Africa series has also been left out with Avesh Khan being retained in the squad. Mohammed Shami continues to be on the sidelines given his injury concerns while the question remains on Kishan’s absence too.
India’s Test squad for first two matches against England: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan
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