The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for the remaining three Test matches against England on Saturday, February 10. Notably, wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja make a comeback to the team, with the former recuperating from an injury that sidelined him during the Vizag Test. However, players such as Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami remain out due to different reasons.
While Virat is unavailable due to personal reasons, Shami is likely nursing an injury.
Virat Kohli remains unavailable due to personal reasons, while Mohammed Shami is likely sidelined due to an injury. Notably, struggling batter Shreyas Iyer is absent from the team for the upcoming three matches, having scored only 104 runs in four innings during this series, following a series of lackluster performances in South Africa. Despite this, both Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan have been retained in the squad, with the latter expected to make his debut in the Rajkot Test, beginning on February 15th.
India leveled the five-match series with a 106-run win in the Vizag Test, propelled by heroic efforts from Jasprit Bumrah and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Bumrah’s dominance earned him the top spot in the ICC Test bowler rankings with 15 wickets, surpassing Ravichandran Ashwin to become the no.1 Test bowler in the ICC rankings. However, the availability of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja for the third Test is contingent upon medical clearance. Left-arm orthodox bowler Saurabh Kumar has been released from the squad, making way for Bengal’s Akash Deep, a 27-year-old right-arm medium pacer. Akash’s inclusion comes on the heels of his impressive record of 103 wickets in 29 first-class matches at an average of 23.18.
India’s squad for the last three Tests vs England:
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, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.