India Announce Squad For First Two Tests Against England; Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma Return

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday announced India’s squad for the upcoming first two Tests against England, which is scheduled to start from February 5 in Chennai, with first two games both taking place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who was on paternity leave after the first Test against Australia, has returned to the squad to lead the team. While senior pacer Ishant Sharma who missed out the Australia tour due to back injury also got his place back in the squad.

As per ESPNcricinfo, both the wicketkeepers Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha have kept their places, while debutant Washington Sundar and bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur have been rewarded for their stupendous performance in the just concluded Brisbane Test.

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will continue to bat at the top of the order, with Mayank Agarwal available as the third opener.

Some of the prominent names to have missed out had left Australia with injuries. Ravindra Jadeja has suffered thumb injury, Hanuma Vihari sustained hamstring injury, Navdeep Saini suffered groin injury, Umesh Yadav is suffering from calf muscle and Mohammad Shami has fractured him arm. All these players are yet to attain full fitness. The only player dropped on the basis of performance is 21-year-old opener, Prithvi Shaw.

All-rounder Axar Patel has also been named in the squad for the first two Tests, while batsman KL Rahul will be available from the second game after recovering from his left wrist injury, which he suffered during the nets before the third Test in Sydney.

India Squad

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness after first Test), Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel

Standbys

KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar

Net bowlers

Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar