Hyderabad: Veteran India batter Virat Kohli remained unavailable as the Senior selection committee led by chairman Ajit Agarkar picked India's 17-member squad for the last three Tests of the five-match series against England on Saturday. Meanwhile, Bengal’s pacer Akash Deep has been rewarded for his impressive performance for India A against England Lions as he receives a maiden Test call-up. The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the team through a media statement on Saturday.
The flamboyant all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul have also been named in the squad but their participation will be subject to fitness. However, BCCI have not provided any updates on their recovery status. Jadeja and Rahul suffered from hamstring issue and quadricep strain respectively and didn't take part in the second Test match in Visakhapatnam.
It is understood that the prolific right-hand batter Shreyas Iyer has told BCCI that he will be unavailable for the Rajkot Test, which will be held from January 15.
India's spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who recently became the first pacer to achieve the no.1 spot in ICC rankings across formats, will continue to lead the fast bowling department with Mohammed Siraj, who didn't play the second Test due to workload management. Mukesh Kumar, who played the Visakhapatnam Test has also retained his place.
With this timely century in the second red-ball match, Shubman Gill has reclaimed his number three position while Rajat Patidar, who made his debut in the Visakhapatnam Test and Sarfaraz Khan, who received his maiden call-up ahead of the second test have also secured their place in the squad for remaining three Tests. India have once again decided to go with KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel as the wicket-keeper options.