The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on January 12, 2024, announced the Team India squad for the first two Tests of the five-match series against England, which begins on January 25.
England will be arriving in India for a series of five Test matches, which will be part of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023-25). India has recently leveled the two-Test series in South Africa and registered their first-ever Test win in Cape Town, becoming the first Asian team to do so.
Meanwhile, England has not won a Test series in India since 2012 and were routed 2-1 the last time they visited India in 2021 amidst the Covid pandemic.
The five Test matches will be played on January 25 in Hyderabad, February 2nd in Visakhapatnam, February 15 in Rajkot, February 23 in Ranchi and March 7 in Dharamshala.
The majority of the Indian squad remains the same as it was in the South Africa Test series. Mohammad Shami remains out of contention due to his ongoing recovery from an ankle injury.
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Rohit Sharma will captain the side and open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The other batters included are Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli.
Interestingly, the selectors have named both KL Rahul and KS Bharat as wicketkeepers, but have also included Dhruv Jurel as a backup third keeper in the Indian squad. There was no space for Ishan Kishan, who is still on his break from cricket and has yet to play for Jharkhand in domestic cricket.
R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Akshar Patel are the spin-allrounders in the squad. Kuldeep Yadav has been named the lone specialist spinner.
The fast-bowling contingent sees Mohammed Siraj and vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah leading the way with Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan as support.
Here is the India Test squad for the first two Tests against England:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.
