Eng vs Ind: BCCI announces India squad for first two Tests against England

Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya returns to India’s squad for the first two Tests against England.

Team India scripted history at The Gabba in Brisbane on Tuesday to historically win the four-match series by 2-1. While the celebrations of the consecutive series victory down under are still on, India has announced the squad for the first two Tests of the four-match series against England at home. The selectors have picked an 18-man squad while four players are on stand-by.

While all-rounder Hardik Pandya will also make his comeback in the longest format when India locks horns with England in their upcoming Test series, Virat Kohli will return to lead the Indian side. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has all been rested.

Axar Patel has been included in the squad along with Kuldeep, Ashwin, and Sundar as the fourth spinner in the absence of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who is also recovering from an injury. The selection panel has also named standbys for the Test series and the players from this pool can be included in the main squad in case of injuries.

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As standby for the England test series, the chances of Rahul Chahar, KS Bharat, and Shahbaz Nadeem have been called. In the meantime, the net bowlers for the series will be Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar and the Indian team will practice.

India have announced the squad for the first two Tests against England

Captain Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, and Hardik Pandya are back in the side https://t.co/vUCGQkIK2e #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/rj0OnRJACF

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 19, 2021

England will play four Tests in India with the series getting underway from February 05. The first two Tests will be played in Chennai followed by two in Ahmedabad.

India’s squad for the first two Tests against England:

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

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

Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

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