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.
Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is on the verge of becoming the second Indian bowler to pick 500+ Test wickets will be leading the spin department and will get assistance from all-rounders Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
The third Test will commence from February 15 in Rajkot while the fourth Test kickstarts in Ranchi from February 23. The fifth and final Test of the series will be played in Dharamsala from March 07.
The series is levelled at 1-1 after two Test matches as England thumped India by 29 runs in the first Test played in Hyderabad, but then Rohit Sharma-led young Indian side bounced back and clinched a dominating 106-run victory in Visakhapatnam.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul*, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep
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